
Book 






0^ 



piglitK? 



COPYRIGHT DSPOStS 



y 






TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY, 
October 28, 1883. 



I DEC Ci-- ^ 



• FWlkSV^ 



DOVER: 

PRINTED FOR THE PARISH, 

1884. 



Copyright, 
1884, 
Bv ALONZO H. QUINT. / j~( 



Alfred Mudge & Son. Printers, 
Boston, Mass. 



^ •' 



CONTENTS. 



PAGB 

Preliminary Note 

The Memorial Occasion ,. 

The Memorial Address, by Rev, Alonzo H. Quint, d. d. : 

Introduction jj 

The Emigration of 1633-1640 12 

The First Parish territorially 22 

The Successive Meeting-Houses rr 

The Ministers of the First Parish oi 

Descendants of the Old Stock 106 

Conclusion .111 

Addresses by present or late Ministers of Dover: 

By Asa Tuttle, of the Society of Friends 113 

Rev. Jesse M. Durrell, of the Methodist Episcopal Church . . .114 
Rev, Sullivan H. McCollester, D. d., of the Universalist Church . ,116 

Rev. Henry F. Wood, of the Free Baptist Church 118 

Rev. William R. G. Mellen, of the Unitarian Church . . . .120 
Rev. Ithamar W. Beard, of the Protestant Episcopal Church . .123 
Rev. Frank K, Chase, of the Free Baptist Church , . . .125 

Rev. George B. Spalding, D. d., recent pastor 126 

Extracts from Letters read upon the occasion : 

From Rev. Benjamin F. Parsons, former pastor 131 

Rev. Avery S. Walker, D. D., former pastor 132 

Rev. Charles Dame 13^ 

Rev. John Colby 13^ 

Rev. George W. Sargent 137 

Hon. Edward Ashton Rollins 138 

Appendix : 

I. Protest from Dover, 4 March 1641 141 

II. Tax List of Dover in 1659 142 , 

III. Conveyance of the present Meeting-House Lot 144 

IV. List of Wardens of the Parish 14^ 



PRELIMINARY NOTE. 



By vote of the Committee of Arrangements for the observance of 
the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the First Parish in Dover, 
the preparation of this publication was placed entirely in the care of 
Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, of Dover, with authority freely to add historical 
matter to the comparatively small account read on the anniversary. 

Acknowledgments for assistance are due to Asa A. Tufts, John R. 
Ham, M. D., and Benjamin T. Whitehouse, all of Dover; and especially 
to the Massachusetts Historical Society, for the generous use of its 
manuscripts and books. 

A misstatement in the note upon page 28, making Joseph Austin an 
ancestor of the poet John G. Whittier, was due to wrong information. 
Correct statements as to this revered and beloved poet's descent from 
early families in this parish is given on page iii. A. H. Q. 



THE MEMORIAL OCCASION. 



As the two hundred and fiftieth anniversaiy of the beginning of the 
First Parish in Dover, N. H., approached, the wardens of the parish 
and the deacons ^ of the First Church of Christ in Dover (connected 
with the parish) held a meeting July 2, 1883, and 

Vo(ed, That the First Parish celebrate its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary by 
memorial services in the church on the last Sunday in October 1883. 

Voted, That the Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D. D., be requested to deliver a memorial 
discourse on that occasion. 

Voted, That Deacon James H. Wheeler, M. D., Deacon Oliver Wyatt, Andrew H. 
Young, Samuel C. Fisher, Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D. D., and Deacon John R. Ham, 
M. D., be a committee to carry out the wishes of the parish in making arrangements. 



The committee made suitable arrangements, and particularly invited 
all former pastors now living, all ministers of Congregational churches 
existing upon any part of the territory of the original parish, all living 
ministers who have gone out from this parish, and all ministers of 
churches (regardless of denomination) now resident in the city of 
Dover, to participate in the memorial service. The letters of some of 
these persons (including the two former pastors not present at the 
service), and the addresses of others, will be given in this publication. 

The committee also issued the following circular letter : — 

THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER, N. H. 

Will commemorate its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary upon its appropriate 
date, viz., the last Sunday in October 1S83, recognizing thereby the commencement 
of the public pastorate of Rev. William Lkverich, in Dover, upon the same Sun- 
day in the year 1633. 



1 The wardens of the parish at this date were : Andrew H. Young, Samuel C. Fisher, and Benjamin 
F. Nealley. The deacons of the church were : Edmund J. Lane, James H. Wheeler, Alvah Moulton, 
Oliver Wyatt, and John R. Ham. 



O THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

Public services will be held in the meeting-house of the First Parish upon Sunday 
afternoon and evening, Oct. 28. 

In the afternoon, a memorial discourse will be given by Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D. D., 
and other services will be rendered by churches formerly embraced in the territory 
of that parish. 

In the evening, addresses are expected from former pastors, and from ministers 
of the several churches in the present city of Dover. 

The service of song will embrace hymns and music familiar to the fathers. 
The parish will welcome at its services, on this occasion, the presence of all per- 
sons interested, and especially of such as have a hereditary interest in the parish of 
their ancestry. 

James H. Wheeler, chairman, 
Oliver Wyatt, 
Andrew H. Young, 
Samuel C. Fisher, 
Alonzo H. Quint, 
John R. Ham, secretary, 

Committee of the Parish. 

Upon the memorial day, Oct. 28, the church edifice was beauti- 
fully decorated in evergreens, autumn leaves, choice flowers, and ap- 
propriate legends and dates, by the ladies of the parish. 

The service of song was confided to the care of Dr. William W. 
Hayes, and the music was happily rendered by the choir of the church, 
or by the choir leading the congregation. The choir consisted of 

Mrs. T. J. W. Pray, Organist ; 

Mrs. Ella F. Chubbuck, Soprano; 

Miss Hannah E. Wyatt, Alto ; 

Mr. John B. Whitehead, Tenor ; and 

Dr. William W. Hayes, Bass and Director. 

In the morning service the recent pastor. Rev. George B. Spalding, 
D. D., now of Manchester, N. H., officiated ; the church and parish 
being without a pastor at this date. 

The memorial services, in the afternoon and evening, were com- 
pleted according to the following programme distributed on the 
occasion ; in the afternoon, the scriptures being read by Rev. Samuel 
H. Barnum, pastor of the church in Durham, and prayer being offered 
by Rev. Lewis D. Evans, pastor of the church in Lee ; and the evening 
service being conducted by Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, d. d. : 



THE MEMORIAL OCCASION. 

THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER, N. H, 
1633. 18S3. 

TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY, 
Sunday, October 28, 1883. 



P^tntorial gtrbitj at half jjast Stoo o'clock, ^. ^T. 

1. Organ Voluntary. 

2. Responsive Reading of Psalms. 

3. Anthem : 

Ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, by Stainer. 

4. Prayer. 

5. Hymn : 

Windsor, by Kirby, 161 5. 

1 O God, our help in ages past. 

Our hope for years to come, 
Our shelter from the stormy blast, 
And our eternal home ! 

2 Before the hills in order stood, 

Or earth received her frame. 
From everlasting thou art God, 
To endless years the same. 

3 Time, like an ever-rolling stream, 

Bears all its sons away; 
They fly, forgotten, as a dream 
Dies at the opening day. 

4 O God, our help in ages past, 

Our hope for years to come. 
Be thou our guard while troubles last. 
And our eternal home ! 

6. Memorial Discourse: 

By Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, d. d. 

7. Prayer. 

8. Hy'MN : 

St. Anil's, by Dr. Croft, 1677. 

1 Oh, where are kings and empires now 

Of old that went and came ? 
But, Lord, thy church is praying yet, 
A thousand years the same. 

2 We mark her goodly battlements, 

And her foundations strong ; 
We hear within the solemn voice 
Of her unending song. 



THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

3 For not like kingdoms of the world 

Thy holy church, O God 1 
Though earthquake shocks are threatening her, 
And tempests are abroad ; — 

4 Unshaken as eternal hills, 

Immovable she stands, 
A mountain that shall fill the earth, 
A house not made by hands. 



9. Benediction. 



(Sijcuing Strfaicc, at Ijulf jjast ,f clrni o'clock, |3. HT. 

1. Organ Voluntary. 

2. Scripture Reading. 

3. Anthem : 

Call to remembrance, O Lord ! by Richard Farrant, about 1 560. 

4. Prayer. 

5. Hymn : 

AH Saints, by Knapp, date iinktwivn. 

1 O God, beneath thy guiding hand. 
Our exiled fathers crossed the sea ; 
And when they trod the wintry strand. 
With prayer and psalm they worshipped thee. 

2 Thou heard'st, well-pleased, the song, the prayer ; 
Thy blessing came ; and still its power 

Shall onward through all ages bear 
The memory of that holy hour. 

3 Laws, freedom, truth, and faith in God 
Came with those exiles o'er the waves; 
And where their pilgrim feet have trod, 
The God they trusted guards their graves. 

4 And here thy name, O God of love. 
Their children's children shall adore, 
Till these eternal hills remove. 

And spring adorns the earth no more. 

6. Addresses : 

Asa Tuttle, minister of the Society of Friends, organized in 1680. 

Rev. Jesse M. Durrell, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church, organized in 1824. 

Rev. Sullivan H. McCollester.d. d., pastor of the Universalist church, organized in 1825. 

7. Hymn : 

St. MartitCs, by Tansicr, date tinknozun. 

I Let children hear the mighty deeds, 
Which God performed of old, — 
Which in our younger days we saw, 
And which our fatheis told. 



THE MEMORIAL OCCASION. 9 

2 He bids us make his glories known, 

His works of power and grace ; 
And we '11 convey his wonders down 
Through every rising race. 

3 Our lips shall tell them to our sons, 

And they again to theirs. 
That generations yet unborn 
May teach them to their heirs. 

4 Thus they shall learn, in God alone 

Their hope securely stands, 
That they may ne'er forget his works, 
But practise his commands. 
Addresses: 

Rev. Henry F. Wood, pastor of the First Free Baptist church, organized in 1826. 
Rev. William R. G. Mellen, pastor of the First Unitarian church, organized in 1827. 
Rev. Ithamar W. Beard, rector of St. Thomas' church, organized in 1S39. 
Rev. Frank K. Chase, pastor of the Washington Street Free Baptist church, organized in 
1840. 

Anthem : 

Out of the deep have I cried unto Thee, by Mozart, about 17S0. 

Letters from former Pastors : 

Rev. Benjamin F. Parsons, 
Rev. Avery S. Walker, d. d. 

Address: 
By Rev. George B. Spalding, d. d., former pastor. 



12. Hymn. 



Dimdee, Scottish, date unknown. 

Let saints below in concert sing 

With those to glory gone ; 
For all the servants of our King 

In earth and heaven are one. 

One family — we dwell in him — 
One church above, beneath, 

Though now divided by the stream, 
The narrow stream of death ; — 

Ev'n now, by faith, we join our hands 

With those that went before, 
And greet the ransomed blessed bands 
Upon th' eternal shore. 

Lord Jesus ! be our constant guide : 
And, when the word is given, 

Bid death's cold flood its waves divide, 
And land us safe in Heaven. 



13. Benediction. 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 



BY REV. ALONZO H. QUINT. 



Honored with the request to give a memorial address upon this 
two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the hfe of our ancient parish, 
I have been perplexed in deciding upon the wisest course of dis- 
cussion. 

That this is the oldest parish in New Hampshire, and marks the 
point in the years where the standard of the Cross was first erected upon 
the soil of our ancient State, suggests one line of thought. That the 
period is the fourth part of a thousand years, and covers more than an 
eighth of all the ages since Jesus was born in Bethlehem, suggests a 
broader, a more exalted, a more sublime view. That this period 
covers the existence of the greatest development in science, in the 
practical arts, in the industrial and commercial activities of the world ; 
the development alike of skill and invention in the destruction of life 
on the battle-iield and of skill and invention of the healing, the saving, 
the humanizing of life ; the development of those magnificent enter- 
prises which Christian faith has originated and is working for the con- 
quering of this world to righteousness and peace, opens a still loftier 
contemplation, and a prophetic vision of the glory yet to come. 

But I cannot take either of these lines. This occasion is local. 
Our fathers were the fathers who crossed the ocean, and settled here in 
the forest primeval. Our generations are the generations which have 
lived here and served God here, and gone to their reward. I must 
keep mostly to the local theme. And yet herein is a perplexity. I 
cannot give you now a history. There is no time to-day for the minute 
and complete record of these years. I can barely touch now on cer- 
tain prominent points, and leave the full narrative to other days. Nor 
can I include to-day much of the life of the church. That began, in 
its organized form, five years later, and those who are here five years 
hence must then note its anniversary of a quarter of a thousand years. 
I may perhaps now tell something of the emigration of October 1633 ; 
of the territorial character of this parish from that time ; of the various 



12 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER, 

houses made with hands in which this people worshipped God in the 
successive generations; a httle of the men who have been its ministers; 
and ma}^ then see how much of the old blood is still perpetuated here, 
side by side with the old faith, and with the new men who have 
re-enforced the old.^ 

I. The Emigration of 1633-1640. 

This town and this parish were for many years coincident. But 
the town antedated the parish by ten years. In the year 1623 was the 
settlement of Dover commenced ; in 1633 came the colony which 
established the ministry of the word of God. 

Go back still further. What white man first saw the beautiful neck 
of land which the Indians called Wecanacohunt,^ and which we call 
" Dover Point" .'' I know not, unless it was that Martin Pring, who, in 
the year 1603, came exploring with a little ship of fifty tons called the 
Speedwell^ and a little bark of twent3^-six tons called the Discoverer, 
the former having thirty men and the latter thirteen, fitted out by men 
of that Bristol city which afterwards practically settled this Dover. 
He visited, first, apparently, the islands at the mouth of Penobscot 
Bay. "At length coming to the Mayne," he says, "in the latitude of 
43 degrees and one-halfe, we changed the same to the South-west. In 
which course we found four inlets." Three of these were doubtless? 
from his description, the Saco, the Kennebunk, and the York rivers. 
'* The fourth and most Westerly was the best, which we rowed up ten 
or twelve miles. In all these places we found no people, but signs of 
fires where they had been. Howbeit, we beheld very goodly Groves 
and Woods, replenished with tall Okes, Beeches, Pine-trees, Firre- 
trees, Hasels, and Maples. We saw also, sundry sorts of Beasts, as 
Stags, Deere, Beares, Wolves, Foxes, Lusernes, and Dogges with sharp 
noses. But meeting with no Sassafras, we left these places." ^ 

We can see the little Discoverer, of twenty-six tons, rowed up the 
Pascataqua. The sweep of its oars alone disturbed the solitude. It 
was in the leafy month of June. If they rowed up through Great 
Bay — the bay of Pascataquack, from which flows the Pascataqua"* — 
they may have entered the gentle Swamscot. If they, at the Point, 
kept northward, they could follow the Newichawannock,^ either to the 

^ It is perhaps needless to say that but a small portion of this address was read in public. 

2 So called in Hilton's patent, but sometimes Wecohamet, and sometimes Winnichahannat. 

3 Purchas, IV, 1654. 

* The Pascataqua (not the Piscataqua) flows out of Great Bay, and not from South Berwick. 

^ The Newichawannock is the river which comes down between Maine and New Hampshire, and 
empties into the Pascataqua at Dover Point. Some works erroneously call this the Pascataqua, and 
modem usage unfortunately misspells the word itself. " Pascataqua " has a meaning ; Piscataqua has 
none. Winthrop's " Pascataquack" shows rudely the harsh guttural of the last syllable. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 1 3 

foot of the falls where Quamphegan rests, or they could go up the 
Cochecho to its unbridled falls, — its name " the rapid, foaming, water." 
There, certainly, they would find the ashes of fires gone out with the 
end of the spring fishing, whence the Indians had departed for the 
planting grounds of Pequaket or Ossipee Ponds. " Ten or twelve 
miles " would have taken them either way, and in either case they saw 
the Point, where our fathers afterwards settled, and saw that division of 
the rivers which gave the Indian name " Pascataqua," — " one water 
parting into three." We know that on the Point were "goodly Groves 
and Woods." But the explorers went away, and left it all to silence. 

The town antedates the parish by ten years and a half. Doubtless 
it was in the spring of the year 1623 that Edward Hilton, probably of 
the old baronial family of that name, though then in trade, settled upon 
Dover Point. Here there joined him that year his brother William 
and that brother's son William, these being " the first English planters 
there," says the second WiUiam, whose own deposition relating the 
fact of their coming — a deposition recently found in Massachusetts 
archives — has dispelled all doubt as to the settlement of Dover by the 
Hiltons in the year 1623. Their associates in England were merchants 
of Bristol, Shrewsbury, and other western tov/ns, but principally of 
Bristol ; the same Bristol some of whose men had sent out Martin 
Bring just twenty years before. Little increase was had in the next 
ten years. In 1630 there were, we are told, but three houses on the 
banks of the upper Pascataqua, including both Dover and Newington 
shores. March 12, 1629-30, Edward Hilton, for himself and his 
associates, procured from the great Plymouth Company in England a 
patent or patents, commonly called the Dover and Swamscot patents.^ 
This was the origin of the English title to the lands of old Dover up to 
the lines of Barrington and Rochester ; of Newington, and of part of 
Greenland and Stratham, — all of this territory being covered by this 
patent. 

In 1 63 1, the year following that of the patent, Capt. Thomas Wiggin 
came hither. He acted, says Hubbard, for " the Shrewsbury men and 
others," and "began a plantation." In 1632 he returned to England 
for more supplies. While in England that year, he had opportunity to 
show his friendship for the Puritan government of Massachusetts. 
" Sir Ferdinaudo Gorges and Capt. Mason," says Winthrop, Feb. 21, 
1632-33, "had preferred a petition to the lords of the privy council 
against us, charging us with many false accusations ; but through the 
Lord's good providence . . . and the good testimony given in our 



1 Printed in full in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, XXIV, 264. 



14 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

behalf by one Capt. Wiggin, who dwelt at Pascataquack, and had 
been divers times among us, their malicious practice took not effect." 

Dover was called "Bristol" on a map so late as 1634; but on the 
25th of March 1633, Edward Howes, writing from London to Gov- 
ernor John Winthrop, of Massachusetts, says : "There are honest men 
about to buye out the Bristol mens plantation in Pascataqua, and do 
propose to plant there 500 good people before Michelmas next. 
T. Wiggin is the chief agent therein." And again, June 22, 1633, "he 
intends to plant himself and many gracious men there this sommer. 
... I have and you all have cause to blesse God that you have soe 
good a neighbour as Capt. Wiggin." 

The Bristol men held two-thirds interest in the double patent. It was 
sold, apparently in 1633. "Whereas," says the Massachusetts govern- 
ment in 1641, "some lords, knights, gentlemen, and others did purchase 
of Mr. Edward Hilton and some merchants of Bristol two patents." The 
declaration of John Allen and partners in 1654 says that the Bristol 
men sold to Lord Say, Lord Brooke, Sir Richard Saltonstall, Sir 
Arthur Heselrig, Mr. Boswell, Mr. Willis, Mr. Whiting, Mr. Hewell, 
and others, for ;^2,i5o. " Whereas," says an old conveyance on record 
in Boston, dated 13 May 1648, "Lords Say and Brooke obtained two 
patents, now commonly called and knowne by the name of Swamp- 
scott and Dover . . . and whereas Robert Saltonstall hath bought 
twelve shares of the twenty five into which the patent is divided ; that 
is, of Lord Brooke four, of Lord Say one share, of Sir Richard Salton- 
stall and Mr. Boswell three, of Messrs. Burgoyne, Holyoke, Makepeace, 
Hewell, one share each." " The Lords Say and Brooke," wrote Winthrop 
in October 1634, " wrote to the governor and Mr. Bellingham, that how- 
soever they might have sent a man of war to beat down the house 
at Kenebeck, . . . they desired that some of ours might be joined with 
Capt. Wiggin, their agent at Pascataquack, to see justice done," " Capt. 
Wiggin," sayS Winthrop's Journal, 14 February 1635, "governor at Pas- 
cataquack under the Lords Say and Brook." The patent or patents, 
therefore, were divided into twenty-five shares; and these were bought 
and sold, as by conveyances on record still, as shares in modern land 
companies are bought and sold. In this company it is clear that Lords 
Say and Brooke held the controlling interest. How many shares the 
first-named had does not appear ; but Lord Brooke certainly held eight, 
eventually selling four to Henry Clarke and four to Robert Saltonstall, 
who also purchased the four from Clarke. " Honest men," as Howes 
said, were these owners; that is, they were in sympathy with Massa- 
chusetts and in the coming opposition to Charles and his court. 
"They, being writ unto," said the memorial of Allen in 1654, "by the 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 1 5 

governor and magistrates of the Massachusetts, who encouraged 
them to purchase the said lands from the Bristol men, in respect they 
feared some ill neighbourhood of them, as some in this honored court 
may please to remember." The Lords, saj's Hubbard, " lii^ewise em- 
ployed Mr. Wiggin to act in their behalf, for the space of seven years," 
" the Shrewsbury men still retaining their own share." 

Lords Say and Brooke, therefore, were substantially the second 
founders of Dover ; the patrons of Thomas Wiggin and the moving 
power of the emigration of the year 1633, — that emigration which made 
this First Parish. It is well, therefore, to glance at these founders. 

Robert Greville, second Baron Brooke, was a descendant, through 
female line, of a brother of the great Earl of Warw'ick, the " King- 
Maker." His predecessor in the barony was born in that same Alcester, 
in Warwickshire, in which Richard Walderne, famous in our Dover 
and New Hampshire history, was born. A thorough Puritan, an ad- 
herent of the great Cause of English liberty, he was a soldier rather 
than a statesman. His name in the current histories of that time is 
remarkably often coupled with that of Lord Say, as if they were in 
close sympathy and action. Equally is it so to-day on the map, where 
Saybrook, in Connecticut, unites the two. Lord Brooke held important 
commands in the war with the king, lieutenant-general in rank, but 
fell in the attack upon the massive cathedral at Lichfield, in 1643. 
An engraved portrait is in Clarendon's " History of the Rebellion," edi- 
tion of 1732. A descendant is now Earl of Warwick, whose eldest son 
bears by courtesy the title of Lord Brooke, borne by his eminent 
ancestor. 

William Fiennes, whose portrait also appears in Clarendon, was the 
eighth baron Say and Sele, and the first viscount. He w'as then forty- 
eight years of age. Few men were more prominent in the contests which 
produced the civil war. " At his house at Broughton," says one 
writer, "the secret discussions of resistance to the court took place." 
Whitelocke, Cromwell's ambassador to Sweden, calls him " a states- 
man of great parts, wisdom and integrity." On the other hand, 
Clarendon, the historian of the court, calls Lord Say "a man who 
had the deepest hand in all the calamities which befell this un- 
happy kingdom, though he had not the least thought of dissolving 
the monarchy." " He had much authority with all the discontented 
party throughout the kingdom, and a good reputation with many who 
were not discontented, and who believed him to be a wise man, and of 
a very useful temper." " A man of great parts and of the highest am- 
bition." " He had always opposed and contradicted all acts of State 
and all laws and impositions wiiich were not strictly legal." " The 



l6 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

oracle of those who were called puritans in the worst sense, and deter- 
mined all their counsels and designs." He lived until Charles the 
Second was crowned, and died in the following year, 14 April 1662. 
A descendant is now the thirteenth Baron Say and Sele, the higher title 
having become extinct. 

The invaluable record of Winthrop, at Boston, is our main authority 
now: — 

"The same day [October 10, 1633], Mr. Grant, in the ship James, arrived at 
Salem, having been but eight weeks between Gravesend and Salem. It brought 
Capt. Wiggin and about thirty, with one Mr. Leverich, a godly minister, to Pascata- 
quack (which the Lord Say and the Lord Brooke had purchased of the Bristol men), 
and about forty for Virginia, and about twenty for this place, and some sixty cattle." 

The historian Hubbard, minister at Ipswich, writing in the same cen- 
tury, adds, that others followed. "In the interim [1633-1640] several 
persons of good estates and some account for religion, were, by the 
interest of the Lords and other gentlemen, induced to transport them- 
selves thither, so many as sufficed to make a considerable township." 

The tenth of October, old style, 1633, would be the twentieth of 
October, new style. It was Thursday. They could not land, these 
emigrants, with their goods, and reach Hilton's Point by the following 
Sunday. It is possible that these emigrants travelled by land from 
Salem, but in 1633 it was an unbroken wilderness, which, if men could 
endure its hardships, was impassable for women and children ; and we 
know that some children came in this colony. Nor could household 
goods be thus transported. The ocean was the highway. Doubtless they 
came by that easy avenue, and ascended the open river. But whether 
by the waters or through the forests, they would not reach Hilton's 
Point by their first Sabbath day in America, and they would reach it 
before the following Sabbath, the last Sunday in October. And on 
that day, two hundred and fifty years ago this Sabbath day, they would 
worship God. Whether it was in some small house on that spot where 
Thomas Wiggin's lineal descendant now dwells, or under the autumn 
trees which then overhung the banks of either river, w'ho can tell ? The 
foliage on their plateau or across in Eliot wilderness was the royal 
autumn crimson and gold. The same great rivers then, as now, rolled 
clown to the sea and surged back with the tides. Two or three small 
buildings on the edge of the salt waters were all that showed signs of 
men's prior labors. 

The ocean waves — a thousand leagues — separated them from 
fatherland, and northward and westward were there wild forests, wild 
men, wild beasts. No beauty of autumnal day, no languid listening to 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 1 7 

the ripple of the waters upon the shore, but only the sense of sepa- 
ration from kindred forever, but with God overhead. There fell words 
of trust in the Father from the lips of the first minister of Christ upon 
this New Hampshire land ; there were spoken trusting prayers ; there 
arose the first psalm from congregation, and there commenced the 
worship of a people whose prayers and songs have kept with the 
rhythmic flow of two hundred and fifty years, and will, please God, 
keep on by children and children's children, till time shall be no 
more. 

Why did these people come over the sea ? Why expatriate them- 
selves.'' Why leave the comforts and the beneficent institutions of 
their ancestral home ? Why undertake the hardships of the forests to 
be subdued, the dangers of the savage foes to be resisted ? It was 
but a ripple of emigration. But it illustrated the times. 

The answer is not entirely a single one. They had no chronicler, 
as did Boston in its Winthrop or Plymouth in its Bradford, to tell 
their stoiy. Indeed, it is to the Plymouth historian that we look for 
the first contemporary record of the settlement of the Pascataqua ; and 
it is to the pages of Winthrop that we turn for the priceless record of 
the coming of the ship jfmnes in 1633. -^^"^^ if is to the stories of 
the historian Hubbard, of Ipswich, that we look for the few facts which 
he garnered forty years after, from the old men, of their coming and 
their work. 

The answer is not a single one. Doubtless, first, there was the 
spirit of adventure which characterized that age. It characterized 
England, and we are Englishmen. It characterized the western 
counties of England in a marked degree. Salop, Gloucester, Somerset, 
Devon, were the counties which had furnished the great Admiral Drake, 
and Walter Ralegh, and their associates, and these were the counties 
which furnished the emigration of New Hampshire. There was a 
restless feeling in England ; their thought was of wealthy lands beyond 
the seas. 

Bat there was more meaning in the New England emigration of the 
period from the year 1629 to that of 1640, — the precise period in 
which no parliament met in England. English liberty was struggling 
against the tyranny of the Stuarts ; and, at the period of this Pascata- 
qua migration, its prospects were gloomy. The king had, seven years 
before, levied tonnage, poundage, and ship-money, without a shadow 
of right, and Hampden's resistance, itself apparently futile, was three 
years in the future. The king had dissolved parliament after parlia- 
ment, because none was submissive to his views, and he was ruling 
without a parliament. He had assented to the Petition of Right in 



1 8 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

1628, but he was habitually and shamelessly violating its provisions. 
So little promise of security in civil rights existed, that many men 
contemplated emigrating, who finally remained in England. Such 
were Lords Say and Brooke. Religious motives also had their influ- 
ence. Perhaps it was the decisive influence. It was an age of intense 
religious activity in thought. The great revolt of the Northern nations 
against the authority of Rome had not come to the settled line which 
seems to separate the Teutonic and the Latin races ; the line which 
makes a liquid language Roman and a guttural tongue Protestant ; the 
line on the south of v^hich the mildness of summer is transfused 
into symbolic and ornate worship, and on the north the rigor of a 
hardy climate makes a hardy faith. 

Nor was there anything promising in the broad outlook. In that 
very November 1632, when Thomas Wiggin was planning with Lords 
Say and Brooke, Gustavus Adolphus, the Lion of the North, who had 
defeated TuUy at Leipsic, and defeated Wallenstein at Leutzen, fell in 
the victory of the latter field. And yet it was only the precise centre 
year of the great Thirty Years' War of religions. Rochelle, the last 
stronghold of the Huguenots in France, had fallen. The Prussian bul- 
wark of Protestant liberty was not to exist for seventy years onward. 

At home they saw no more promise. Many Protestants were 
becoming more protestant. They came to believe that it was nof 
enough to hold that no authority but the Bible should govern men's 
faith ; none but that should impose rites and ceremonies. In v/hat 
seemed to them the half-way reformation of the Church of England, 
they believed that some unscriptural observances were still made 
obligatory. They rejected the requirements of arbitrary command. 
They were not, like the Plymouth pilgrims, separatists from the Church 
of England. They scrupled at its ceremonies, but not at the exist- 
ence of that church ; not at its doctrines, and hardly at its polity. It 
was in this spirit that Winthrop and his associates, in 1630, on leaving 
England wrote their touching address to their brethren of that 
church : — 

" We esteem it an honor to call the Ch. of England, from whence we rise, our 
dear mother, & cannot part from our native country where she especially resideth, 
without much sadness of heart & weary tears in our eyes ; ever acknowledging that 
such hope & part as we have obtained in the common Salvation we have received 
in her bosom We, blessing God tor the knowledge and education as members of 
the same body, shall always rejoice in her good and unfeignedly grieve for any 
sorrow that shall ever betide her." 

In this period of rapid emigration to New England, there was little 
hope at home for a purer worship or for liberty of conscience. It was 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. I9 

a hundred years too early for the life which John Wesley was to infuse 
into England's soul ; a hundred years too early for the burning elo- 
quence of Whitefield. The tyrannical, bigoted, treacherous Charles 
was upon the throne. That very summer, before our October emigra- 
tion, Laud was made archbishop of Canterbur}^ and primate of all 
England, It was itself the threat that the High Commission Court, 
of which he was the moving power, and under whom, says Macaulay, 
" Even the devotions of private families could not escape the vigilance 
of his spies," was to be still more powerful. They could not see that, 
twelve years of patience, and his head would be brought to the block. 
In the very summer before your emigration, also, they saw Thomas 
Wentworth, later Earl of Strafford, the King's most trusted adviser, 
his most stern and implacable agent in arbitrary rule, promoted still 
higher in honor and power. They could not see that, when but eight 
years had passed away, William Wentworth, later your Puritan elder, 
would, in the New Hampshire woods, read letters out of England, 
telling him how popular vengeance has brought his illustrious kinsman 
to the scaffold. Oliver Cromwell was then a justice of the peace at 
Huntington. Twenty years more, and this man, one of their own 
religious faith, would be Lord Protector of England, and this royal 
Englishman would terrify Europe with the threat that his guns should 
thunder at the gates of Rome, 

They could not predict. They would live free lives under God's 
ordinances. They would live free men under English law. They 
would rear children in a jDure faith. Therefore did such men come to 
make a New England on the basis of the liberties of the Old. They 
brought the stout English blood into this land. It became disciplined 
by trials. It was made stalwart by wars with savage and civilized 
enemies. It was forced to self-thought and independent action. 
Almost at once it adopted a balder form of worship, and would have 
frowned upon the semblance of the Cross which your artist placed 
upon yonder wall. Without government, it was forced into republican 
or rather into democratic equality and polity. 

But it must be remembered that this emigration, with its additions 
within the few years immediately following, was not of the intense 
type of Puritanism, Nor was it without an admixture of different 
moral elements. It found also an Episcopal interest here. The 
Hiltons were of the Church of England; and it is significant that 
Edward Hilton, the founder in 1623, a man of wisdom and integrity, 
never held office under Massachusetts after the first year of the submis- 
sion of Dover to that government. New Hampshire was not Puritan. 
Portsmouth favored the English Church, and that church was predomi- 



20 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

nant in the interests of Gorges on the Maine side of the river. To 
obtain the consent of the New Hampshire towns in 1641 to a union 
with Massachusetts, that province was forced to reUeve these towns 
from its law that none but church members could be voters in the 
State. Ours was a modified Puritanism, with disturbing elements inter- 
mingled. Men came here who, unable to endure the tyranny of the 
Church and the State in England, were equally unable to submit to the 
despotic rigor of the Massachusetts rulers. George Burdett, who came 
here from Massachusetts as early as 1637, had left England because of 
persecutions for non-conformity in rites and ceremonies, but left Massa- 
chusetts because of an opposite non-conformity. Hanserd Knollys, who 
came here in 1638, wrote home from Boston, although a Puritan, that 
the rulers there were worse than the High Commission Court, whose 
grasp he had felt in England. Capt. John Underbill, who came here 
in the same year, was banished from Massachusetts, not for grave 
moral offences suspected, but because of his views upon the doctrines 
of the Holy Ghost. So Thomas Larkham, who came here in 1639 
or 1640, early and later a Puritan, here differed with Knollys about the 
"burial of the dead," — as one instance, which involved the difference 
between the English liturgy and the Puritan heathenish burial without 
even prayer. Francis Champernowne, of the same blood with Ralegh, 
and descendant of King John, was nephew of the wife of the royalist 
Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Hilton, Champernowne, and Robert Burnum 
petitioned in 1665, by the King's Commissioners, that "they might be 
governed by the known laws of England," meaning thereby to escape 
the peculiar laws of Massachusetts; and that " they might enjoy both 
sacraments, which they say they have been too long deprived of," 
meaning thereby the sacraments of the Church of England. John 
Wheelwright, banished from Massachusetts, who settled Exeter, was 
a man of learning, piety, and uprightness. The Waldernes, William 
and Richard, coming about 1637 from Alcester, an early home of 
Lord Brooke, may be supposed to have been in the Puritan inter- 
est. But our Puritanism was not the Massachusetts Puritanism, 
and with it were people who still loved the English Church, and other 
people who cared little for either. But it insured us the right of con- 
science in the Church, and self-government in the State. No witch- 
craft delusion dishonors our annals, and the episode of stripes upon 
travelling Quakers was under the orders of the Massachusetts govern- 
ment. 

It is a misfortune that we have not the names of the emigrants. We 
have no records prior to 1647, except a few references to land grants, 
some being given in 1636. The earliest document extant giving names 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 



21 



is the combination for government ^ in tlie year 1640, and this we have 
only in a copy (apparently not perfectly accurate), found in the Public 
Record Office in London, made in 1682. This document, a copy of 
which is certified to me as correct, by W. Noel Sainsburjr, Esq., of that 
office, is as follows : — 

Whereas, sundry mischeifes and inconveniences have befaln us, and more and 
greater may in regard of want of civill Government, his Gratious Ma'ie haveing 
hitherto setled no order for us to our knowledge : 

Wee whose names are underwritten being Inhabitants upon the River Pascata- 
quack have voluntarily agreed to combine ourselves into a body politique that wee 
may the more comfortably enjoy the benefit of his Maties Lawes together with all 
such Orders as shalbee concluded by a major part of the Freemen of our Society in 
case they bee not repugnant to the Lawes of England and administered in the 
behalfe of his Majesty. 

And this wee have mutually promised and concluded to do and so to continue till 
his Excellent Matie shall give other Order concerning us. In Witness whereof wee 
have hereto set our hands the two and twentieth day of October in the sixteenth 
yeare of the reign of our Sovereign Lord Charles by the grace of God King of 
Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith &c. Annoq Dom. 1640. 



Thorn. Larkham, 
Richard Waldern, 
William Waldern, 
William Storer, 
William Furbur, 
Tho. Layton, 
Tho. Roberts, 
Bartholomew Smith, 
Samuel Haines, 
John Underbill, 
Peter Garland, 
John Dam, 
Steven Teddar, 
John Ugroufe, 
Thomas Canning, 
John Phillips, 
Tho : Dunstar, 

This is a true copy compared with ye Originall by mee 



John Follet, 
Robert Nanney, 
William Jones, 
Phillip Swaddon, 
Richard Pinckhame, 
Bartholomew Hunt, 
William Bowden, 
John Wastill, 
John Heard, 
John Hall, 
Abel Camond, 
Henry Beck, 
Robert Huggins, 



Fran: Champernoon, 
Hansed Knowles, 
Edward Colcord, 
Henry Lahorn, 
Edward Starr [buck?] 
James Nute, 
Anthony Emery, 
Richard Laham, 
William Pomfret, 
John Cross, 
George Webb, 
James Rawlins. 



Edw. Cranfield. 



[Indorsed.l 
The Combination for Government by y- people at Pascataq 1640 Rec'd abt. 13th 
Febr. 82-3. 



* An earlier combination for government had existed, but no relic of its history remains except in two 
instances. Winthrop says: "Mr. Burdett, who had thrust out Capt. Wiggin sent there by the Lords." 
Burdett himself, in a letter to Archbishop Laud, from Dover, 29 November 1638 (the original of which 
is still preserved), urges "that a speedy course be taken to settle his majestys government amongst us, 
there yet being none but combinations. . . . For the year past and this currant the helm hath been 
put into my hands by the principal plantations." In fact, Capt. Wiggin being no more than the super- 
intendent of a land company, the people, in 1657, organized and chose a chief magistrate, as was right 
and proper. Unfortunate selections of officers dissolved the combination in 1640, and a new one was 
formed as above. 

3 



22 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

How many of the above-named came in 1633, and how many in the 
several later years, it is impossible to tell. It is also impossible to tell, 
beyond a few names, who of this list were and who were not of Puritan 
sympathies. The signers of a paper, still existing, dated i March 
1641, addressed to the Massachusetts authorities, and protesting against 
the action of some petitioners for annexation, might be supposed to 
designate such as were not in sympathy with the Bay government, but 
an analysis shows that even this is not decisive. ^ 

II. The First Parish Territorially. 

This First Parish was in the beginning and for many years coin- 
cident with the town, or rather, the town was the parish, and at its 
meetings transacted all secular-ecclesiastical business. The territory, 
when the limits of Dover came to be defined, included the present city 
of Dover, the towns of Somersworth and Rollinsford on the north, the 
towns of Madbury and Lee on the west, the town of Durham on the 
southwest, and the town of Newington on the south. The north- 
west boundary line as run from the Newichawannock river down to the 
western corner of Lee, is twelve miles in length. An air line from the 
upper corner of the now Somersworth, running to the southern line of 
Newington, is fifteen miles in length. From the western extremity of 
Lee an air line to the meeting-house on Dover Neck, crossing hills, 
rivers, and forests, is more than thirteen miles. Such for eighty years 
was the extent of the First Parish. 

In the course of time it became inevitable that parts of this great 
tract should be set off to constitute other parishes. Settlers multiplied, 
and local interests grew up. The fertile shores of the Great Bay drew 
men to Newington. The water-power at Durham on the west, and 
Salmon Falls on the north, built up industries in those places. The 
laws required all people to pay taxes for the support of the ministry, 
and the principles of our polity required every inhabited territory 
strong enough to do so to erect a house of worship at the public ex- 
pense. The place of worship was on Dover Neck, and those remote 
found it a hardship to travel thither every Lord's day. In 1660, in- 
deed, so strong had grown the settlement at Cochecho, our now centre 
of population, that this vote was passed : — 

" It is ordred for the supply of cochecheae thear is set apart fiftien pound of 
towne rents for the ministrey thear in the winter season." 

* The signers were Thomas Larkham, William Jones, John Follett, Robert Nanny, Thomas Durs- 
ton, Thomas Roberts, Samuel Haines, Bartholomew Smith, John Dam, Bartholomew Hunt, William 
Waldern, John Tuttle, Henry Beck, Thomas Layton, Edward Starbuck, William Pomfret, William 
Furbur, William Storer, John Hall, Phillip Swaddon, Richard Waldern, Edward Colcord, Robert 
Huckins, Richard Pinkcom, and Thomas Tricky. The spelling of names varies from that of the pre- 
ceding paper. This protest will be found in the Appendix. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 2$ 

This was a standing vote. Our defective records make but one 
allusion to the result, viz. : — 

"2, 2 mo. 1666. By the Selleckmen, Ordered that William Pomfrett shall giue 
out Orders to Mr. Rayner for the Seuerall Rents dew from mills to be payd to him 
toward his sallery, as also to giue Mr. Coffin order to Receue ;^i5 of Rent to pay 
Elder Wentworth for his paynes at Crechechae the last winter." 

Elder William Wentworth, thus the first person recorded as statedly 
officiating at Cochecho, was a ruling elder in the church, and ances- 
tor of three governors of the province of New Hampshire, who ruled 
from the year 17 17 until the war of the Revolution. 

Durham. — The earliest efforts for separation, although then unsuc- 
cessful, were made by the people of Oyster River, now Durham. Such 
was the importance of that place, and such the difficulty of travel, 
largely by boat, that an agreement was made, 14 July 165 1, that two 
ministers should be employed, each at ;^5o salary, Mr. Daniel Maud 
to remain at Dover Neck, and another be called for Oyster River. A 
vote dated 16 April 1655, provides for the "comfortable maintenance 
of the ministry of Dover and Oyster River," by devoting to that pur- 
pose all the rents of the saw-mills, and a tax of two pence in the 
pound upon all inhabitants. A meeting-house was built upon Durham 
Point in 1655, and it was voted 30 March 1656, that "thear shall be a 
house at Oyster Reuer Billd neier the meeting house for the use of the 
menestrey, the demefishens as follareth, that is to say 36 feet long, 
18 foett Broed, 12 foot in the wall, with too chemneyes and to be 
seutabley feneshed." There was also a minister there. On the 17th 
of June 1657, "Mr. Flecher^ and the towne hauing had some discorse 
whether he will leaue them, he willingly manifested that he was not 
minded to stay aney longer, but to Prepaer himself e for old England 
and could not justly lay Aney Blame Apon the Towne." 

The following shows how the differences between the two parts of 
the town were settled : — 

Wee hose names are heir under writen being chosen By the towne of Douer ar 
Appoynted by thear order to heire and Determine all such Differences as apier 
Betwixt the inhabetants of the too thierds of the towne of Douer and the on thierd 
of the towne in Oyster Riuer Doe Conclude at Present as followeth that is to saye 

ily first that from the first of Aprill 1657 and soe forward from yeir to yeir it is 
heirby mutually a greed uppon that the naigeborhoed of Oyster Riuer shall inioy 

1 Edward Fletcher, admuted townsman in Boston, 2 February 1640 ; returned to England in 1657; 
was minister at Dunsburn (Duntsbouriie?), co. Gloucester: " He was beaten and used unmercifully. 
... He came a little before out of New England," says Calamy, " and being thus abused returned 
back thither . . . and there died." He came back to Boston, and his will was proved there, 12 Feb- 
ruary 1666. 



24 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

full Righte and intrest of twenty pounds out of the Rents of the towne to be from 
lamprell Riuer grant Rent performed as allsoe the sayd neagberhoed shall inioy 
thear full Right of the too peney Rate Rising from within themselfes boeth wich 
twenty pounds and too peney Rate is for the supply of the minestrey within them- 
selfes and to be ordered by themselfes for the End Exprest 

2ly It is Agried and determined that the sayd naigberhoed shall haue leberty 
from time to time to make Choyse of a minestrey for thear accomodations, prouided 
that thay haue the approbations of the sayd towne or of anie three oidasent Elders 

3ly That in Case the nieghberhoed of Oyster Riuer shall bee without a ministrey 
aboue fower moenthes theay shall Returne the twenty pounds aboue sayd into the 
Coman tresseurey with Proper anabell (?) Contrebution theay of Doner doeing the 
like to them in proportion in the like Case and this mutually to be Donn soe longe 
as thear is Defeekte of Eather sied 

4ly It [is] Ordred for the minestry of Doner Necke thear is sett aparte fift}- fine 
pounds of Towne Rents with the two penie Rate appon all the inhabetants Except 
oyster Riuer is set apart -for the ministry thear and in Case this Doe not make up 
the Sallarey, then to be maed up by a Rate uppon the sayd Inhabetants Blody poynt 
Excepted only paying the two penneo Rate. 

5ly It is ordered for the suppley of Cochechoe thear is set apart fiftien pound of 
towne Rents for the ministrey thear in the winter seasone 

61y It is agreed that the house of mr Vallintin Hill wich is his nowe dwling 
house at Rockey point shall be within the line of Deuetion to Oyster Riuer 

Witnes cure hands this 17th of July 1660 

Vallintine Hill William ffurber 

Richard Wallderne John Danes 

William Wentworth Robert Burnom 

Raphfe hall William Willyames 

Richard Otes William Robords 

Rev. Joseph Hull also served a brief time at Oyster River. Our 
records make no mention of him, but Bishop's New England judged by 
the Spirit of the Lord, a thoroughly partisan work, mentions him. 
" George Preston, Edward Wharton, Mary Tomkins, Alice Ambrose 
{alias Gary)," says this work (published in 1667), " having been at Do- 
ver, . . . passed from thence over the water to a place called Oyster 
River, where, on the first day of the week, the women went to Priest 
Hull's^ place of worship, who, standing before the Old Man, he began 
to be troubled" After the usual interruption, the Quakers were "led 
out of the place of worship, but in the afternoon they had their meet- 

1 Rev. Joseph Hull was born in Somersetshire, in 1594 ; graduated St. Mary Hall, Oxford, in 1614 
(or near that year); was rector of Northleigh, Devon, 1621 to 1632 ; was minister at Weymouth, Mass., 
in 1635 ; was at Yarmouth in 1640; had trouble with the Massachusetts authorities, doubtless because 
of his greater liking for the English church, and left the province. Was at York in 1642, but appears 
to have returned to England after the Parliament became powerful. Calamy mentions him as at St. 
Buryan, Cornwall, ejected or silenced, but gives nothing but his name and place. He then appears at 
Oyster River parish in 1662 ; soon went to the Isles of Shoals, and died there 19 November 1665. His 
daughter Elizabeth married John Heard of Garrison Hill, and her descendants are numerous here, 
inc uding Dr. John R. Ham, one of the deacons of this church. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 2$ 

ing, unto which came most of the Priest's hearers, when truth gave the 
Priest such a blow that day," says Bishop, " that a little while after the 
Priest left his Market place, and went to the Isles of Shoals, three 
leagues in the sea." 

The people at Oyster River, being dissatisfied, sent a petition to the 
General Court at Boston, 17 May i66g, signed by John Bickford and 
thirty-eight others, desiring incorporation as a town. They represented 
" the intolerable inconvenience of our traveil many myles, part by land, 
part by water, manie tymes by both, to the public worship of God 
and the necessarie stay of manie of us from public worship, who can- 
not undergo the difficulties of traveil to it " ; that they comprise two 
hundred and twenty souls, near fifty families, and seventy and "odd " 
soldiers, and they hope the Court would find "our hearts and hands 
strengthened in the work of God, our case more vigorous for an able, 
Orthodox minister, our families instructed according to law, ourselves 
growing in truth and peace to God's glory." A strange argument this 
would be with which to appeal to a modern legislature in behalf of a 
division of a town. 

The movement was successful only in causing the town by action 6 
October 1669, to decide that Oyster River may "build a meeting- 
house " at their own expense, and appropriate their tax for the ministry. 

It was agreed in 1675 that two of the five selectmen should be 
selected from Oyster River. Under this arrangement the people there 
for many years had their own minister, who was paid by the town, but 
with the taxes imposed upon that people for the purpose. John Buss 
was both physician and minister from, perhaps, 1684. He was living 
there at the time of the great Indian and French massacre of 18 July 
1694, when ninety-four of his parishioners were killed or carried cap- 
tive. He was not at home that morning, and his family escaped to 
the woods ; but his valuable library was burned. In his petition laid 
before Governor and Council in 17 18 are the words "your petitioner 
who for forty years successively has labored in the work of the min- 
istry in that place " ; and, " But being now advanced to seventy-eight 
years of age, and unable to perform the usual exercise of the min- 
istry, the People have not only called another minister, but stopp'd 
their hands from paying to my subsistence, whereupon he is greatly 
reduced, having neither bread to eat nor sufficient clothing to encoun- 
ter the approaching winter. "i He had, indeed, been in some straits 



1 The result of this petition was an order that Dover pay him ;{;20 per year, in quarterly instalments. 

John Buss was born in 1640 ; perhaps he lived early in Concord, Mass. It does not appear that he 
was ever ordained. He was preacher and physician, beloved as such in Wells, Me., in 1672, and 
wnuldseem, by their records, to have remained until near 1684; the petition above conflicts with this 
date,i,but is doubtless incorrect. He died in 1736. 



26 



THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 



earlier. Fifty-five ^ persons in Oyster River petitioned the General 
Assembly, ii November 1715, stating that "whereas by mutual agree- 
ment the inhabitants of Oyster River have for many years past made 
choice of their own minister and paid his salary . . . and that the 
selectmen of the town in generall (two whereof have been annually 
chosen within the district of Oyster River) have all along made rates 
[/. e., taxes] for the several ministers," and, as there has been lately 
some neglect either in making or collecting the tax, they ask that they 
have, practically, parish powers. The papers show that there was a 
division of sentiment at Oyster River. But the result was an order 
that the selectmen of Dover " call to an account " Joseph Davis, the 
last year's constable in Oyster River, and oblige him to pay the money 
he should have collected ; and that the selectmen make the legal assess- 
ment " as formerly, on the inhabitants of Oyster River, for the support 
of the present minister, Mr. Buss, until another minister be called and 
settled in his room." 

On the 4th of May 17 16, Oyster River was made a parish, — "the 
new meeting-house built there [to] be the place of the public worship 
of God in that district." That parish was incorporated as Durham, 15 
May 1732, and took from parish and town the present towns of Dur- 
ham and Lee and part of Madbury, — all then Durham. 

The church was organized 26 March 17 18. "This day (through 
the sn^iles of Heaven upon us)," wrote Nathaniel Hill and Stephen 
Jones to the Boston News Letter of that time, " we had a Church gath- 
ered here, in the Decency and Order of the Gospel, and our Teacher, 
the Reverend Mr. Hugh Adams ^ was then consecrated and Established 
the Pastor thereof, who then preached from that Text in Cant. 3, 11 ; 
we being then favored with the Presence and Approbation of some 
Reverend Pastors of the next Neighboring Churches, with the Honored 

^ The petition presented by Nathaniel Hill was signed by Jeremi;ih Hurnham, Stephen Jones, Elias 
Critchett, Sampson Doe, Joseph Dudley, Elias Critchett, jr. , James Nock, John Tompson, Joseph 
Jones, John Chesley, John Burnham, David Davis, Abraham Bennick, John Gray, John Rawlins, 
James Bickford, Samuel Perkins, William Duly, John Doe, John York, Joseph Chesley, John Cro- 
mell, John Buss, jr., Philip Chesley, Joseph Davis, John Tompson, sen., John Smith, William 
Jackson, David Kincaid, Jonathan Chesley, Valentine Hill, Ichabod Chesley. jr., Thomas Alin, John 
Sias, Job Renholds, Samuel Chesley, jr., Samuel Chesley, Cornelius Drisco, Robert Burnham, Peter 
Mason, Jonathan Simpson, Robert Tompson, Samuel Hill, John Renalls, Joshua Davis, Moses 
Davis, jr., William Leathers, Francis Pitman, Ely Demeritt, Naphthali Kincaid, James Jackson, 
Thomas Willey, James Burnham, Robert Huggins, Jonathan Woodman. 

2 Hugh Adams was born 7 May 1676; graduated H. C. 1697 i was ordained pastor of the church in 
Braintree, Mass., 10 September 1707, the day on which the church was organized; dismissed 22 August 
1710. At Chatham, Mass., then without a church, the town, 25 April 1711. offered him £,10 salary and 
£100 settlement. He seems to have accepted in the summer. The town voted, 13 January 1715 
" not to employ Mr. Adams in the work of the ministry any longer," — the petitioners for such action 
alleging that he " did so imprudently, unsteadily, and contentiously behave himself in many respects." 
His labor at Oyster River ceased 20 January 1739. He died there in 1750. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. • 2/ 

Messengers thereof at the said Solemnity, in our New Meeting-House, 
wherein they gave the Right Hand of Fellowship." 

The first meeting-house in Durham was built by the town of Dover 
in 1655, near the lower end of Durham Point. The second, "new" in 
1 7 16, was farther up, on land now owned by Hamilton A. Mathes, and 
under its pulpit was concealed a portion of the powder taken from Fort 
William and Mary, 14 December 1774, in the daring attack on that 
royal fortress by John Sullivan and others, of Durham, in connection 
with John Langdon, and from which place the powder was taken to 
Bunker Hill and used in that battle. The third house was the huge 
one built at Durham Falls in 1792, which was taken down in 1848. It 
was noticeable for its immense windows and general lack of beauty. 
It stood upon the triangular piece of ground just south of the bridge, 
now used as a lumber yard. The fourth and present house was dedi- 
cated 13 September 1849. 

Newington. — The beautiful lands on the south side of the Pascata- 
qua as it flows from Great Bay past Hilton's Point, long known as 
Bloody ' Point, formed the first territory, in point of time, actually sep- 
arated from this parish. As respects attendance upon public worship, 
the people were always in peculiar difficulty. They had to cross in 
their boats the deep and rapid Pascataqua, — at its narrowest point, 
four fifths of a mile wide, — and at that point especially turbu- 
lent and dangerous as the great tides roll in and out. In times of 
storm attendance was impossible. But even these difficulties were 
greatly increased when a new meeting-house was built at Cochecho, and 
an inhabitant of Bloody Point must travel five miles upon the land 
after crossing the wide and rapid river. A petition to the Governor 
and Council 15 July 1713, from the "inhabitants of Bloody Point, 
. . . with some from the outskirts of Portsmouth," asked incorpora- 
tion as a parish. They had " of late erected a meeting-house and 
obtained a tract of sixty acres of land for the Accommodation of a 
minister among them." * The petition was granted upon a hearing 

' So called because Capt. Neal of the Portsmouth plantation, and Capt. Wiggin, of the Dover plan- 
tation, in 1631 disputed about the ownership of this beautiful territory, and would have shed binod if 
they had proceeded to extremities. " So, as in respect," says Hubbard," not of what did, but of what 
might have fallen out, the place to this day retains the formidable name of Bloody Point." 

2 This petition was signed by George Huntress, Edward Row, John Dam, Wm. Hoyt, Joseph 
Richards, Samuel Rawlings, Joseph Rawlings, Samuel Tompson, Richard Downing, William Furbur, 
Jethro Bickford, Clement Meserve, Thomas Bickford, J.>hn Fabyan, Samuel Huntress, Nalhaa 
Knight, John Hodsdon, John Pickerin, 3d, Henry Lanksttr, Benjamin Richards, John Downing, John 
Knight, Thomas Trickey, John Downmg, Andrew I'eters. John Knight, 2d, John Warenfol, John 
Bickford, John Rawlins, Hatevil Nutter, William Whitham. James Rawlings, Clement Meserve, 
Mo»es Dam. Alexander Hodsdon, Henry Nutter, William Shaciiford, Thomas Leighton, Richard 
Pumerv, Joshua Crocket, John Hutson, John Nutter, Abel Peavey, Thomas Row, Kdward Pevey, 
John Quint, John Trickey, James Gray, John Carter, Henry Bennet, Benjimin Bickford, Richard 
Nason, Thomas Downs. 



28 



THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 



the next day, "they forthwith establishing an able, Orthodox, and 
Learned minister among them." ' 

Somersworth. — The Somersworth, which became a parish 19 De- 
cember 1729, not only included Rollinsford, but Rollinsford was largely 
Somersworth. Its centre of population was at the present Rollinsford 
Junction. The present generation remembers the venerable meeting- 
house (third in time there), which stood in the burial ground, and was 
destroyed by an incendiary. 

But Rollinsford was an ancient settlement when the waters were 
running to waste at the Great Falls. Its south line was the present 
north line of Dover until it met Fresh Creek easterly, and then it fol- 
lowed that stream to the Newichawannock. Its soil began, therefore, 
but a mile from Walderne's mills and trading post. Anthony Emery's 
farm is mentioned, over that line, before 1646, and a grant of marsh to 
him 2 May 1642. The mill privilege on Fresh Creek was granted 6 
December 1652, for ^6 annual rent, to William Furbur, Elder William 
Wentworth, Henry Langstar, and Thomas Canney. In that year 
Elder William Wentworth received land in that vicinity, and may have 
been living there in 1653 on land apart of which is still in possession of 
his descendants, on the turnpike to South Berwick. The river lots, 
from St. Alban's Cove to Quamphegan, were granted in 1656, and 
ranged upward as follows : Lieut. Ralph Hall, John Roberts, Deacon 
John Hall, Henry Magoun, James Grant, Thomas Canney, Joseph 
Austin,^ Henry Tebbets, John Damme, and Thomas Beard ; and there 
they reached the land of Thomas Broughton. In 1658, a second and 
interior range was granted, going northward : Jeremey Tebbets, Thomas 
Hanson, Ralph Twombly ; and, interior of these, Job Clements. While 
only a fraction of these persons settled on these lands, their children 
did to a great extent, and not a few names are recognized there to-day. 

Saw-mills at Quamphegan and at the now Salmon Falls gathered a 
population. It was at that latter place occurred the savage massacre 
by French and Indians, 18 March 1689-90; surprised in the darkness 
before dawn, when, as the then pastor of this parish wrote in his sad 
journal, " The whole place was destroyed with fire, twenty-seven per- 
sons slain, and fifty-two carried captive." It was less than nine months 

• This condition was speedily complied with. The first meeting of the new parish, held 6 August 
1713, voted to offer a salary of ;£8o to Rev. Mr. Fisk, who, however, declined the offer, and received 
pay for fifteen Sabbaths. Rev. John Emerson preached three Sabbaths and on Thanksgiving day, for 
which he received £i,\ but he declined to settle. Joseph Adams accepted the invitation, and was 
ordained 16 November 1715, the church having been organized on the preceding day. Mr. Adams re- 
mained in the pastorate uniil January 1783, and died 26 May following his dismission. He was born in 
Braintree, Mass., i January 1690, graduated H. C. 1710, and was uncle of John Adams, afterwards 
President of the United States. 

' Ancestor of the poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who thus comes into our parish. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 29 

after the desolation of Cochecho, 28 June 1689, when the same pastor 
recorded, " Killed twenty-three persons, carried captive twenty-nine." 
The two massacres swept everything from the edge of Cochecho to 
the northern line. "Heard's Garrison at Cochecho," wrote Frost, 26 
March 1690, " being the frontier and the only Garrison on the north 
side of that River, . . . having now left three men." Such was the 
First Parish in 1690. But such was its people that not a foot of land 
was yielded in all that fifty years of war. Even when people of Dover 
petitioned, as in 1722, regarding the law as to grammar schools, because 
" For at the time fit for children to go and come from schools is gen- 
erally the chief Time of the Indians doing Mischief, so that the Inhabi- 
tants are afraid to send their children to Schoole, and the Children 
dare not venture." Such was once this parish. 

So greatly had Somersworth (Rollinsford really) grown in 1729 that 
a petition for separation as a parish was presented that year. It gave 
the usual reasons : " That the Dwelling places of yo"" Petitioners are 
at a great distance from the house of Publick Worship of God in the 
Town of Dover, where yo"" Petitioners live, by which their attendance 
thereon is rendered very difficult, more especially to the women and chil- 
dren of their Families, and that in the Winter Season and in Stormy 
Weather they cannot pay that Honour and Worship to God in Publick 
as it is their hearts desire they could, therefore for the advancing the 
Interest of Religion," etc.^ 

The petition was granted, and the parish of " Summersworth " 
established 19 December 1729. 

There had been some public service there earlier. James Pike, 
teaching in Berwick, preached there in 1727. On the 28th of October 
1730, he was ordained pastor of the church there. "This day," said a 
correspondent of the Boston News Letter^ "the Rev. Mr. James Pike 
was ordained Pastor of the Church 2 in this Place. The ceremony was 



'The signers were : Samuel Roberts, Paul Wentworth, Thomas Alden, Eleazer Wyer, Love Roberts, 
Jeremiah Rawlings, Sylvanus Nock, James Hobbs, Thomas Hobb?, William Streley (?), George Ricker, 
Thomas Downs, Philip Yetton, Thomas Nock, John Roberts, Samuel Randall, Samuel Cosen, Ma- 
turin Ricker, Ephraim Ricker, Joseph Ricker, Joshua Roberts, John Hall, Moses Tebbets. William 
Downs, John Tebbets, Benjamin Peirce, Maturin (?) Ricker, Zachariah Nock, Philip Stagpole, 
Thomas Miller, Nathaniel Perkins, jr., Samuel Roberts. Benjamin Wentworth, John Conyer (?), Wil- 
liam Busbe, Joseph Husey, Ichabod Tebbets, James Stagpole, Benjamin Vamey, Ebenezer Garland, 
Samuel Downs, Richard Wentworth, Joseph Wentworth, John Connor. Thomas Wrillingford, Moris 
Hobbs, Thomas Tebbets, Benjamin Stanton, Ephraim Wentworth, Samuel Jones, Joseph Pevey, 
Philip Pappon, James Gupey, Josiah Clark, John Mason, Benjamin Twombly, William Jon»s, Daniel 
Plumer, Jabez Garland, Hugh Conner, Job Clements, John Roberts, Edward Ellis, Samuel Ally, 
William Tompson. 

2 The date of organization of the church is not known to me. The first meeting-house was erected 
in 1729, and taken down in 1773. The second was erected in 1772, and destroyed by lightning 4 
May 1779. The third was buih in 1780, and long stood tenantless after population had gone to Great 
Falls and Salmon Falls, and was burnt, from the act of an incendiary, i May 1848. The church had 



30 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

opened by the Rev. Mr. Tufts. The Rev. Mr. Wise preached from the 
9th Chapter of Matthew, 37 and 38 verses. The Rev. Mr. Gushing g^wo. 
the charge, and the Rev. Mr. Rogers the Right Hand of Fellowship." 
Mr. Pike remained pastor until his death, 19 March 1792, preaching 
his last sermon 31 October 1790. The house which he built still stands, 
and is occupied by his great-grandson. That house has a sacred mem- 
ory, in the fact that George Whitefield, to whom Mr. Pike was a warm 
friend, used to occupy its guest room, — the southeast chamber. 

Somersworth was made a town 22 April 1754. Rollinsford was 
separated from Somersworth 3 July 1849, ^•''d i^^ church was estab- 
lished I May 1846, Rev. Samuel J. Spalding, d. d., being ordained 
its pastor 28 October 1846. The meeting-house was dedicated i May 
1850. The church at Great Falls, in Somersworth, was organized 16 
January 1827, and its meeting-house dedicated in August 1828 

Madbury. — On the loth of May 1743, sundry persons living in the 
westerly part of Dover and the northerly part of Durham petitioned 
to be made a parish. They said that " your petitioners live at such a 
distance from the meeting-houses in their Respective Towns as makes 
it difficult for them & their Families to attend the Publick Worship 
there, especially in the Winter & spring seasons of the year, which 
induced a number of your Petitioners some years since, at their own 
cost, to Build a meeting-House." No success was had, but a new peti- 
tion, ^ presented 17 January 1754, prevailed, and the parish of Madbury 
was incorporated 31 May 1755, — it being made a town 26 May 1768. 

No Congregational church was ever organized in Madbury. Samuel 
Hyde, not ordained, officiated from about 1758 to 1770. A Baptist 
church was once existing, but it died long years ago. The meeting- 
house became a town house, fell into decay, and was taken down but 
a few years since. 

but two pastors, the second being Pearson Thurston, born in Sterling, Mass., December 1763, grad- 
uated Dart. Coll. 1787, read theology with Dr. Emmons, ordained i February 1792, died 15 August 
i8ig. His house and the church records were burned in January 1812 

Rev. James Pike was born in Newbury, Mass., i March 1703 ; graduated Harv. Coll. 1725. " He 
was a faithful servant of Christ." The services at his ordination were printed in pamphlet form, a copy 
of which is in the library of the Boston Athenaum, and another with the family at Rollinsford. 

1 The petitioners were : James Davis, Joseph Ryans, William Tasker, Joseph Daniels, William 
Fowler, Noah Young, Nathaniel Tibbets, Samuel Chesley, Job Demerit, Timothy Moses, Robert 
Huckins, Lieut. Emerson, John Buzzell, John Evens, Isaac Twombly, James Huckins, William Bui- 
lell, Thomas Bickford, Joseph Jackson, William Brown, Thomas Glovier, Ens. John Tasker, Samuel 
Davis, John Roberts, Henry Buzzell, John Demerit, Joseph Libbey, Zachanah Pitman, John Tasker, 
jr., Eli Demerit, John Smith, Charles Bickford, Zachariah Edgerley, Joseph Buzzell, Joseph Twom- 
bly, Benjamin Leathers, John Demerit, William Demerit, John Demerit, jr., James Crown, Antony 
Jones, Paul Gerrish, Thomas Bickford, Daniel Young. John Buzzell, jr., Azariah Bordey, John 
Winget, jr., John Huckins, Ebenezer Demerit, James Jackson, James Jackson, jr., Capt. Hicks, 
Ebenezer Tasker, Reuben Gray, William Twombly, jr., Timothy Perkins, William Gliden, Ebeneier 
Buzzell, Jacob Buztell, James demons, jr., Benjamin Willey. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 3I 

Lee. — The next separation was from Durham. "The Parish of 
Lee," but with full town privileges, was incorporated 16 January 1766. 
The first meeting-house stood in the burial lot at the Paul Giles corner. 
Although Samuel Hutchins appears to have been minister there, it 
does not appear that any Congregational church was organized until 
3 December 1867. Rev. John Osborne was long time minister in Lee, 
whose daughter became wife of Dea. Andrew Peirce, of this joarish. 

Thus was this parish reduced to its present bounds. The divisions 
were made inevitable by the increase of population. Six parishes have 
been taken from it, but they have left the ancestral parish more vigor- 
ous than at any period of its former history. Territorially, a straight 
line from its meeting-house to its northernmost point is four miles and 
a half, and five miles to its southernmost point. 

But when the separations were completed, convenience required a 
more compact organization than that of the whole township. The 
First Parish was therefore incorporated by Act signed 11 June 1762. 

It is as follows : — 

Anno regni regis Georgii Tertii Magnae Brittanniae Francae et Hiberniae 
Secundo. 

An Act to enable the first Parish in the Town of Dover, or that Part of Dover 
Town commonly so called to Choose Parish officers and to transact any matter 
relating to the Ministry of the Gospel Divine Worship and other Parochial affairs 
separately from the Parishes set off within that Township. 

Whereas the Selectmen of the Town of Dover are chosen among the Inhabitants 
of the Town without any Regard to the Different Parishes who are obliged to Call 
meetings & Regulate such matters as concern only one part which is attended with 
Difficulties and Inconveniences and Whereas said first Parish cannot have any 
Parochial Affairs Transacted without a General Town Meeting is Called 

Therefore Be it Enacted by the Governor Council & Assembly, That that part 
of the Town of Dover which still is so Called & denominated as to any affairs con- 
cerning the Ministry of the Gospel the Publick worship & other Matters which do 
not concern the other part of the Town and are in their Nature parochial be and 
hereby is to be considered as the first Parish in said Dover, and is hereby authorized 
to transact all such affairs as a separate parish and to Choose all necessary parish 
officers annually some Time in the month of March after the first Meeting which 
officers being sworn as the Law directs are hereby authorized to Discharge the 
Duty of their respective offices and Trusts as fully to all Intents as any other 
officers whatsoever and the said Parishioners also hereby fully invested with all the 
Powers privileges and Immunities which any other Parish and Parishioners by 
Law have held & Enjoy and the Select men of said Town are hereby Prohibited 
from having any thing to do hereafter with the affairs of said Parish and the Con- 
stables of said Town Dwelling in that part of the Town which is without the Limits 
of the parish of Madbury shall be obliged to Collect the Rates and Taxes made or 
that shall be made for said first Parish as he is by Law obliged to Collect and pay 
their Rates and Taxes saving^to said Parish a Right and Priveledge of Chusing and 



32 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

Appointing a Collector for said Parish as they shall Judge it necessary or Con- 
venient. 

And John Gage Esqr. Cap*. Richard \Vald[r]on & Lieut. Shadrach Hodgdon or 
any two of them are hereby appointed to Call the first Meeting of the Parishioners 
of said first Parish to be held on any Day they shall Judge proper within the month 
of August Next 

Province of New Hampre 
In the House of Representatives June 2<1 1762 
This Bill having been read three times 
Voted That it pass to be Enacted 

Hen Sherburn Speaker 
In Council June nth 1762 
The foregoing Bill read a third time 
and past to be Enacted 

Theodore Atkinson Junr Secry 
Consented to 

B Wentworth 

Benning Wentworth, whose signature as governor appears, was great- 
grandson of Elder William Wentworth, of this church and parish, — 
the second of the three governors of the name of Wentworth. Henry 
Sherburne, speaker of the Assembly, inherited the blood of William 
Wentworth and of Ambrose Gibbons, each of this parish ; and Theo- 
dore Atkinson, jr., secretar}^, was also a descendant of William Went- 
worth. 

The first meeting under this Act was called by John Gage, Shadrach 
Hodgdon, and Richard Waldron, and was held on Monday, 30 August 
1762; made up of " freeholders and inhabitants " of the said parish, 
for it was a territorial parish, we will remember. Col. John Gage was 
moderator ; Ephraim Hanson, then and onward town clerk, was chosen 
parish clerk ; and Nehemiah Randall, Lieut. Shadrach Hodgdon, and 
Deacon Daniel Ham were the first wardens. 

I will give here the brief list of clerks of the parish, each serving 
substantially, till the date given to his successor : — 

1. Ephraim Hanson, 30 August 1762, until his death, 24 March 
1772. The house in which this person was born (15 June 1728) is 
in part still standing, being the one nearly opposite, on the south, the 
house of the late John R. Varney, being owned by David L. Drew. 

2. Moses Ham, chosen 31 March 1772. He lived near Cochecho 
Pond, and died 11 May 18 17. 

3. Nathaniel Cooper, 30 May 1775, and again later. 

4. Benjamin Peirce, 31 March 1779, and again later. 

5. Nathaniel Cooper, — a second time, — 30 April 1786, until his 
death, from consumption, 4 March 1795. He was town clerk from 

780 until his death. The house in which he lived stood on the north- 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 33 

east corner of Locust and Silver streets.^ He was succeeded by his 
son 

6. Walter Cooper, chosen 26 March 1795, who was also town 
clerk until 1777. He was found dead on the shore of a pond in Lee, 
14 October 1823. 

7. Benjamin Peirce, 26 March 1800; a deacon in the church from 
5 November 1780; of honored memory. The house in which he lived 
is still standing, the second east of Locust street, on the south side of 
Silver. He died 12 September 1823, aged 80 years. 

8. Philemon Chandler, 10 March 182 1, whose name is worthily 
kept in memory. He was born in 1766, died 17 January 1840. 

9. Asa Alford Tufts, 27 March 1833 ; of whom one may not speak 
in his presence as the respect of a whole community would dictate ; 
whose life, it is hoped, will be spared years longer yet. 

10. Andrew Peirce, 28 March 1839, a deacon from 30 December 
1838, an honored son of the honored Benjamin Peirce just mentioned; 
a deacon in the church, intrusted with ofifices in the State, — who of us 
that knew him will forget his white hairs, his graceful form, his silvery 
voice, his gracious words. He died 4 September 1862. 

11. Edmund James Lane, 29 March 1853; still with us, and still 
revered in the growing infirmities of age ; a deacon in the church from 
30 December 1838. 

12. William Reade Tapley, 26 March 1867, and still in office. 

The support of the ministry was, from the earliest times until within 
this centur\% from public and general taxation. Our ancestors did not 
originate this method. It was not an invention of Puritans : the emi- 
grants brought the system with them from England, where it was univer- 
sal. The church here was practically as much an " established church " 
here as the Church of England was an established church in England. 
The church here was not a sectarian, not even a denominational, church. 
It has been asked, Was this parish established upon the Cambridge 
platform of church polity? No; from the vantage-ground of time, 
we look down upon that platform. There was no such platform when 
this parish began ; and the parish is simply " The First Parish in Dover." 
We have been asked, " Was this church founded upon the Westmin- 
ster Confession of Faith ? " No ; we are more ancient than the gath- 
ering of the divines at Westminster, and this church is simply " The 
first church of Christ in Dover." Neither parish nor church was 



1 A few years since it was removed southward on Locust street, and divided into two parts, stand- 
ing on the west side of that street ; one of these is now occupied by Nathaniel Watson, a member of 
this parish. 



34 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

organized under any name or with any character other than Christian, 
The New England parishes and churches being such, and being sup" 
ported by legislation, they held the same position here which the Eng- 
lish Church held at home ; they were here "by law established," and 
therefore, all other people, such as Baptists or Episcopalians, were 
" dissenters." 

The erection of meeting-houses here, the providing of ministers* 
houses, and the support of the ministry, were alike paid for by the 
people, taxed according to property. In Dover there was, however, a 
partial support in the rents of the mill-sites, and of the right to cut 
timber for the saws. The original settlement was in the fishing 
interest ; but Monhegan and the Isles of Shoals were better stations 
for the great fisheries than was the inland Point six miles up 
the Pascataqua. If visions of mines had occupied their minds, they 
had quickly faded. Although Cochecho early became a trading-post, 
where Indians or hunters might sell furs, its trade was not sufficient to 
raise the place into great prominence. But the great forests were 
inexhaustible sources of wealth. They were pierced by many rivers. 
The Newichawannock on the east, Fresh Creek, Cochecho (with its 
tributary Isinglass), Little John's Creek, Bellamy, Shankhassick (trans- 
formed to Oyster River), Johnson's Creek, the Piscassick (transformed 
to Lamprey River), all ran southward, and all had rocky falls filled 
with sleeping power. Up to the rocks of each flowed the tide-water, 
ready to receive the products from the saws. The West Indies and 
other places were rich markets for the lumber. 

John Mason had sent a saw-mill to Newichawannock in 1634. It 
may have been as early as or before 1640 that Richard Walderne built 
at Cochecho Falls, where he had taken up his residence, the extreme 
home of English life here. He had large possessions. When he had 
erected mills in 1649, completed before 2 October (James Wall, builder), 
in 1649 he sold to Joseph Austin a part of the "old mill." He received 
very large grants of timber on the Cochecho, 12 December 1648. By 
1650 the following sites, with standing timber adjoining, had been 
granted by the town : — 

Cochecho, lower falls, to Richard Walderne. 

Lamprey River, 27 December 1647, to Elder Hatevil Nutter and 
Elder Edward Starbuck. 

Bellamy, 23 October 1649, to William Pomfrett, Thomas Layton, 
and John Dam. 

Lamprey River ("Piscassick grant excepted"), 7 June 1652, to 
Valentine Hill. 

Oyster River, 19 November 1649, to Valentine Hill and Thomas 
Beard. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 35 

Quamphegan, i July 1650, to Thomas Wiggin and Simon Brad- 
street. 

Cochecho, second fall, 4 July 1650, to Thomas Wiggin and Edward 
Starbuck. 

Bellamy, above the lower falls, 5 December 1652, to Richard Wal- 
derne. 

Cochecho, second fall, north side, 5 December 1652, to Richard 
Walderne. 

Fresh Creek, 5 December 1652, to William Furbur, William Went- 
worth, Henry Langster, and Thomas Canney. 

Johnson's Creek, in Durham, 5 December 1652, to Ambrose Gib- 
bons. 

Little John's Creek, at the head of Dover Neck, 5 December 1652, 
to Joseph Austin. 

Later grants I need not give. All these were subject to payment of 
rent ; some a gross annual sum, and some by the number of trees cut ; 
traces of w^hich are found even later than the year 1700. The rents 
were set apart for the support of public worship. 

A little earlier, however, is the first vote on record touching the 
privileges of the church, — a curious one : Providing, 20 April 1644, 
that Edward Starbuck, Richard Walderne, and William Furbur shall 
be during their lives, " wearesmen for Cochecho Fall and river," paying 
yearly a rental of six thousand alewives to the town, — the vote says: 
" the first they catch to be employed for the use of the Church, and 
what fish is wanting for the Church's use to be delivered at Common 
price, that is to say. Three shillings a thousand at the utmost, and the 
first Salmon they catch to be given to our pastor or teacher." After the 
wearesmen have six thousand, then, " 3dly, Church officers are to be 
served v/ith fish " ; and then, " 4thly, all that beare office in the com- 
monwealth." It was church and state, — the church taking the place 
of honor, even in fish. 

Our defective records do not give the earliest votes as to the support 
of the ministry. But, apparently in 1643, appears the following: — 

" It is ordered that Mr Dan'l Maud* and Mary his wife, shall Enjoy the house they 
now dwell in during their lives, provided he continue Amongst us Teacher or Pastor 
if please God to call him to it." 

A vote setting apart the mill rents and providing for the rate of tax 
ation, passed 16 April 1655, is as follows : — 

" It is agreed upon concerninge the setling of comfortable maintenance for the 
ministry of Douer & Oyster River yt all the Rents of the saw mills shall be sett 



» Mr. Maud, fifth minister, who served from 1643 until his death, in 1655, will be mentioned later 
in this publication. 



36 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

apart into a Towne stocke w^^ two pence upon the pound to be rated upon the 
estates of all the inhabitants, and all such estates so appointed are to be put into the 
hands of any that shall be chosen Treasurers by the said Towne to receive the same, 
well summ, that hath respect to the Rate, is to be paid in money, Beaver, Beife, 
Poarke, wheat. Pease, Mault, Butter, cheese, in one or any of these ; this order to 
take place the 25th of June next, & to continue one whole yeare." 

At this date, Mr. Maud, who made his will 17 January 1654-5, 
which was proved 26 June 1655, may have been deceased, and prepara- 
tions making for his successor's support ; perhaps directly intended 
for Rev. John Reyner, who settled here in June or July of that year. 

A record, apparently of 1653, shows amount annual rents due from 
mills: Quamphegan, ;i^io; Capt. Wiggin and Edward Starbuck, at 
Cochecho second falls, ^10; Richard Walderne, at the second falls, 
;^4, and for Cochecho, ;!^5o ; Joseph Austin, fourth of old mill at Coche- 
cho, £2 ; Fresh Creek, £6 ; Little John's Creek, £6 ; Ambrose Gib- 
bons, grain mill, £4.; Oyster River, ^10 ; Lamprey River, ^20. The 
mills thus in operation should have given an income for the support of 
public worship of ;^i22. 

Upon our records are tax lists of various years, showing the list of 
tax-payers, the amount assessed upon each person by the two-penny 
tax, the privilege of paying in provisions brought to the minister's 
house, and the prices fixed from year to year. The estimated value of 
provisions in the tax of 22 November 1659 was as follows : beef, three 
pence per pound ; pork, four pence ; butter, six pence ; wheat, five 
shillings per bushel ; pease, four shillings ; malt, six shillings ; barley, 
five shillings ; cheese, at price current. The provision tax next^ year 
amounted to nearly sixty-six pounds. I imagine your parsonage 
receiving the beef, pork, malt, and cheese ; and your late revered pas- 
tor in its vestibule receipting therefor. It was, however, an easy way 
then, doubtless scarcely felt by the producers. 

The amount of Mr. Maud's salary seems to have been ;^5o and the 
two-penny tax in provisions. That of his successor, John Reyner, was 
;^i2o. The following record bears upon his contract : — 

" At a publicke Towne Meetinge y^ ig'li of y* 2^ Mon : 58 

" Voted by the Inhabitants in general' a second time that the first ingagement & 
promise of the Towne unto M"" Reiner of one hundred & twenty pounds yearely is 
ratifyed & Confirmed to be made good unto Him onely with annexinge thereto such 
prouisoes & limitations, as will both stand with the true meaninge thereof & may 
secure the Town from such burthens & pressures, as are feared to come upon them 
thereby : 

"As first, that he except of Ministery & office in the Church, & Continue therein 
accordinge to the Rule of God's Word. 

" 2dly that mens estates generally in the Towne be not obseruably decayed nor the 

' The tax list for 1659, as a specimen, will be found in the Appendix. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 3/ 

Rents belonging to the Towne impard, neither y« one, nor the other from what they 
are in the Townes present unclertakeing for one hundred & twenty pounds yearely : 
But if so be the Towne be impard, & decayed at any time in their estates & Rents, 
then accordingly for such time & no longer, the yearely Stypende may by the Towne 
be lowered, onely if thereby the Maintenance fall below one hundred pounds yearely 
without probability of its riseinge afterwards, & that he cannot therewith Comforta- 
bly carry on family occasions, I may make use of some other help for his Comforta- 
ble Continuance hear, or remouinge to some other place without offence : 

"3cUy in Case it be testafyed to him by the Towne or the Major part thereof that 
their expenses for this or that present yeare ar aboue what they are usually in re- 
spect to more than ordinary or urgent occasions, & that y« rise of their estates is not 
such as they can Comfortably bear it, & yet make good the summ agreed upon, in 
such a case y« Towne may be at Liberty to take of from y* Same Summ with 
respect to such expenses for y^ present time, as may Seem meet to them, prouided 
it be not aboue twenty pounds pr Annum." 

The town voted, 7 November 1659, to give to Mr. Reyner "his new 
dwelling house which was the town's house provided for a minister," 
provided that he " do live and die with us," and provided that Mr, 
Reyner " doth free the town from building any other house for a min- 
ister." After his death the town voted, 29 May 167 1, its meaning to 
give it to him, his heirs and assigns, with the acre of land in which it 
stood. 

The cellar of this house is still visible. From the lower eastern cor- 
ner of the fortification on Dover Neck one may walk down the road 
fourteen rods, and from the point then reached, a due east line ex- 
tending four rods beyond the east line of the highway will reach the 
remnant of the cellar on which stood the house of Rev, John Reyner. 
An unprotected hollow in the ground has outlasted two centuries. 

Shortly after Mr. Reyner's decease, which took place 20 April 1669, 
the town took action to build another minister's house, inasmuch as 
Mr, Reyner had left not only two sons but a widow and five daugh- 
ters, who inherited. This vote was passed, it appears, at a meeting 
which invited John Reyner, jr., who had been assistant to his father 
for some years, to officiate for one year. The vote, which it is not 
certain was carried into effect, was as follows : — 

"At y* sam tim voted that thear shall be a minister's hous billt apon dover neck 
the dementions is as followeth y* is to say 44 foot in lenketh 20 foot wide 14 foot 
betwine Joist and Joist with a Stak of Brick Chimneyes and a Sellar of 16 foot- 
Squaer this house to be Buellded at the charg of the hole town in Genarall." 

An incidental record shows that the junior Reyner was, at that date, 
22 July 1669, invited to officiate for one year : — 

"Whereas at a Publicke Towne meeting holden the 22 of July 1669 the Towne 
gave to Mr John Reyner A Call to ofetiate in the ministrey until the 22th of Julye 
next insuing wich will be in the yeir 1670, at Towne meeting holden the 27'b of 
September 69 Mr John Reyner Gave in his Exseptance to that sarues." 
4 



38 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

On that 22d of July i66g, the town voted also to set apart £^o 
of mill rents for the Dover Neck ministry, and a penny rate in pro- 
visions upon all the inhabitants except those of Oyster River : the 
order was to stand for one year, but it contains a peculiar provision at 
variance with taxation : " the penney Rate to be paid in October or 
November or a free contribution what Everey man will free give," 

Preliminary to the settlement of John Reyner, jr., which took place 
12 July 1 67 1, the following offers were made : — 

"at y* sam tim [13 March 1670-1] for the Better Incoredgment of mr John Rey- 
ner in the ministrey the Towne doeth order the fortey pounds of mill Rents with the 
peney Rate to be payd to him yeierely soe longe as he Conteneweth men [worti] the 
Towne of Douer this peney Rate to be leued ap [on] the Inhabetance of Doner 
Neck Cocheche Blodey po . . . and oyster Riuer acording to thear Artekells ] voted 
the 13th I month 

" at the sam tim And ferder it is Ordred that the Selecktmen haue power to treat 
with mr John Rayner and to agree with him his finding for him self for Conuenient 
housing not Exsieding seuenty pounds . . . voted the 13th i mo [that is, 13 March 
1671.] 

" Voted It is this day ordred that twenty Ackers of swampe land to be layd out for 
the use of tie ministrey and not to be alienated without the Consent of Eurie inhab 
. . . the plase is the great Swamp apon the N^ck of land to be bounded and layd 
out by the sellecktmen " 

The salary of Rev. John Pike in 1686 was £60 -^ in 1695, ^65 ; in 
1707, ^80, one third thereof being paid in money. The town appro- 
priated, 22 May 17 10, ^10 towards the expenses of Mr. Pike's funeral. 

Mr. Nicholas Sever was called to the pastorate by vote of 22 May 
1710; his salary was to be " not less than eighty pounds per annum 
money, and one hundred pounds payable in two years towards the 
purchase of house and land as he sees meet." For service before 
settlement he was to receive twenty shillings a Sunday, and subsistence 
for himself and horse. The town added £6 to his salary, 18 December 
17 10, " to procure him wood," and ten acres of land for him to build 
upon. The town voted also, 18 December 1710, that "fifty or sixty 
acres of the most convenient common land on Bloody Point side " be 
laid out for the use of the ministry " when it shall please God to direct 
a settlement of that kind amongst them." 

Prior to the settlement of the next minister, the town, by vote 
7 January 17 16-17, authorized the committee appointed to obtain a 
minister to offer him £c)0 salary "for his encouragement." Probably 
this was the salary on which Jonathan Gushing was settled 18 Septem- 
ber 1717. Twenty acres of land were laid out for " the use of the 
ministry," apparently in 1720, on Dover Neck, "bounded on the north 
side by M^ Cushing's ten acres." Mr. Gushing's residence was not 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 39 

owned by the parish, but by himself. He purchased of Daniel Titcomb, 
5 May 1718, for "a certain sum of good & currant money," four acres 
more or less on Pine Hill, " nigh y® new meeting house at Cochecho," 
bounded west by the road from Dov^er to Cochecho, northerly and 
easterly by the common land, and southerly by "y* Road y' goeth from 
Cap' Paul Gerrishe's to Hanson's " ; meaning the tract next south of 
the present burial ground. There he built a house, and there he died. 
The house was in a ruinous condition when taken down, or when it 
fell down, between the years 1810 and 1814. Mr. Cushing's well, 
very near which the house stood, is still in use ; it is on the vacant lot 
of Mr. John Meserve's, next south of Mr. John Lancaster's residence. 
You can, any day, drink water from the same well with Mr. Cushing, 
where he drank a hundred and sixty-five years ago. Or you can drink 
water from the same spring on Dover Neck with William Leverich, — 
Hall's spring, — where Mr. Leverich drank two hundred and fifty years 
ago. 

Mr. Cushing's salary, 16 July 1759, was made ;^i,ooo. This appar- 
ently enormous sum was in depreciated paper currency. In 1755, 
soldiers who had been promised ^135- per month were paid ^15 ; in 
1757, £2^; in 1758, the pay was restored to twenty-seven shillings in 
silver, making ;^io in currency equal to one pound in silver,^ 

The church's call to Mr. Cushing's colleague and successor, Jeremy 
Belknap, was concurred in 15 December 1766, with a salary of ;^ioo 
lawful money, and ^^150 (^^50 in three months after installation, ;^5o 
in six months, and ;i^5o in nine months), "which is to provide himself a 
convenient house to dwell in," "or instead of the ^150 that the Parish 
shall provide him a Convenient house." He chose the one hundred 
and fifty pounds. 

Mr. Belknap lived first in the house of Col. Otis Baker, which house 
was last owned and occupied by Michael Whidden when it was de- 
stroyed by fire 4 November 1830, and which stood on the southwest 
corner of Silver and Atkinson streets. Into that house Mr. Belknap 
moved 6 July 1767, just after his marriage,^ which took place in Bos- 
ton 15 June 

Mr. Belknap purchased of Tobias Randal,^ 15 March 1768, for 

1 Mr. Cushing appears to have been in good circumstances as to property. His inventory, after his 
decease, shows that he owned this homestead, other lands in Dover, and land in Madbury, Chichestei, 
and four lots in Rochester ; plenty of live stock, besides silver ware, gold buttons, and other evidences 
of thrift. 

2 On the first Sunday after his bringing his bride to Dover, 6 July, his diary significantly says, " a 
very full congregation." 

3 The conveyance describes the land as comprising about one acre and eleven rods, its line upon the 
road being eighteen rods and two feet ; Col. Otis Baker's home lot joining it on the east, and Samuel 



40 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

;!^203 lawful money, the property on Silver street, now forming the 
northwest corner lot of Silver and Belknap streets, where long stood 
the old house familiar to many of you. It was an old house in our 
boyhood, and it must have been built by Tobias Randal, as his con- 
veyance says, " with the dwelling house & barn now standing on the 
said Land." He moved into this house 20 June 1762. "Removed," 
says his diary^ of that date, " to my new house — a small shock of an 
earthquake about noon, rumbling noise but hardly any shaking." 

In that house Mr. Belknap wrote his history of New Hampshire. 
The last owner of the place was Susan, widow of Samuel Watson and 
mother of Nathaniel Watson, of this city (who was born in the Bel- 
knap house 28 December 1827). The house was in bad condition, 
and it was decided that it was useless to try to repair it. The house 
was sold at auction, in 1854, to Washington P. Hayes, for $100, to be 
removed ; it was taken down and removed between the loth and 30th 
of August 1S54. The land was sold to the School District, in 1856, 
for ^300. 

The depreciation of the currency in the war of the Revolution and 
the difficulty of collecting by law the church taxes during that period 
seriously embarrassed Mr. Belknap. Attempts made to collect by 
force resulted in hardship, and Mr. Belknap interfered to end such 
proceedings at the sacrifice of his own rights. Extra allowances were 
repeatedly voted him, but the result of these pecuniary difficulties in 
the parish was his withdrawal. 

When the. parish voted, 25 December 1786, to concur with the 
church in calling Robert Gray, his salary was ;j{^ioo lawful money, and 
the use of fifty acres of parsonage lands. The parish made an extra 
grant of ;^3o, 30 June 1797, "in consequence of the upward prices of 
Provisions"; and one of £100, 28 March 1798, for the same reason. 

On the 28th of March 1787, the parish "Voted, To build a parson- 
age house the present year, the Dimensions to be 38 feet long and 30 
feet wide." It voted also to purchase from George Hanson half an 
acre of land for a house lot, on the south side of Gershom Lord's land, 



Hodge's land bounding it on the west and north. These premises Mr. Belknap sold to Charles 
Clapham, of Dover, an Englishman by birth and a lawyer by profession, 6 July 1789, for jCSi. Mr. 
Claphani later removed to Portsmouth. 

When the war of the Revolution began, Mr. Belknap succeeded with some difficulty in bringing his 
parents out of beleaguered Boston, and into Dover. Here they long resided, living in the " Freeman 
house," on Silver street, which still stands. That house is now owned and occupied by Mrs. Isaac 
N. Drew. 

* For many items I am indebted to the kindness of the Massachusetts Historical Society, which 
mits me to make extracts from Mr. Belknap's interleaved almanacs in the library. Another item sug- 
gestive of ancient times is this, of 23 November 1768: " Silas Hanson killed a bear about 20 Rods 
from my House." 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 4I 

for £3°; and it contracted, 7 April 1788, with Richard Tripe^ to build 
the house and barn, according to the plans, for ;^3oo lawful money. 
This house- is still standing on its original site on Pleasant street. 

Concurring with the church, 23 June 1806, and renewing its concur- 
rence 13 October following, in calling Martin L. Hulbert, the parish 
offered $500 salary; the vote upon concurrence, ninety-one yeas to 
fifty-two nays, did not warrant his settlement. The parish vote of 
concurrence in calling Caleb H. Sherman, 12 March 1807, fixed his 
salary at $500, and the "income of the parsonage." Mr. Sherman 
lived in the parsonage. 

Rev. Joseph W. Clary's salary (the parish concurring in the call 
25 March 1812) was ^500 and the use of the parsonage lands. He 
lived in the parish parsonage. By vote of 22 July 1828, when he was 
about to leave, the parish voted to continue his salary for the year and 
to pay him $500 in March 1830 (substantially equivalent to two years' 
salary), with the use of the parsonage for his family, if needed, until 
the latter date. 

The parsonage lands were sold, by virtue of vote 25 March 1829, 
two lots, " the one adjoining Capt. Moses Wingate's land, .and the 
other adjoining Israel Hanson's land." The parsonage house had 
ceased to be used in 1832. On the 13th of July in that year, the 
parish sold it for $1,000 to Daniel and William Osborne, "being the 
same land and buildings lately occupied by the Reverend Joseph W. 
Clary." The house, which had hitherto faced the south, was turned 
so as to face the east, by William Osborne, who lived in that house 
and died therein 16 August 1839. 

The salary of Rev. Hubbard Winslow, fixed in the vote concurring 
with the church, 17 November 1828, was $1,000; the contract of set- 
tlement being liable to be ended by six months' notice by either party. 
Rev. Warren Fay, who did not accept, was offered $1,000 salary, 

4 September 1832. Rev. David Root's salary (by vote concurring 

5 December 1832) was $1,000. That offered to Jeremiah S. Young, 
30 October 1839, ^^^.s $800 and any moneys remaining annually after 
defraying other expenses. Rev. J. W. McLane was called by concur- 
ring vote 17 June 1844, at a salary of $1,000, but he did not accept. 
The salary of Rev. Homer Barrows, 21 May 1845, and that of Rev. 
Benjamin F. Parsons, 21 December 1852, was each $1,000. That of 
Rev. Elias H. Richardson, 30 September 1856, was $1,200; that of 
Rev. Avery S. Walker, 6 August 1864, $1,500. The parish concurred 

1 Richard Tripe was a noted builder. The old Court House, erected in i/Sg, was one of his works. 
^ It is now occupied by Reuben H. Twombly. 



42 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

with the church, 25 July 1869, in calling Rev. George B. Spalding, at a 
salary of $2,300 ; made it $2,700, 25 March 1872 ; and $3,000, 26 August 
1874, and added the use of parsonage (save taxes), 27 May 1879. 

The present parsonage, whose use is given to the minister besides 
his salary, is the result of a bequest of Miss Sarah Green, daughter of 
Dr, Ezra Green. Miss Green was born in Dover 19 October 1788, 
and died there 2 November 1874. Her will was dated 26 October 1868. 
A codicil, 22 February 1871, revoked the "second item" of said will, 
and substituted a provision giving to the deacons of the church, viz., 
Peter Gushing, Edmund J. Lane, Nathaniel Low, James H. Wheeler, 
and Alvah Moulton, and to their successors in office, in trust, $3,000, 
— $300 of which to be invested, and the income annually used " for 
the purchase of books for the library of the sabbath school," — the 
remaining $2,700 "to be appropriated and expended for the purchase 
of a suitable parsonage for the minister of said church and society." 
The amount of the legacy (including interest) paid to the deacons 24 
December 1874 was $3,204.12. To this money was added, by sub- 
scription for the purpose, $1,960,00, and the present parsonage house 
was purchased of Rev. George B. Spalding, d. d., 27 May 1879, for 
$5,000. 

The system of taxing the whole people, by law, for the support of 
the ministry, and of enforcing that taxation by the officials of the 
law, was contrary to the spirit of the gospel of Christ. The gospel 
asks for willing offerings only. When a colony consisted solely of 
Christians, and of Christians of one mind in doctrine and polity, 
and of Christians who were willing to give according to their property, 
the tax was but a convenient and formal way of collecting the means 
willingly given to the support of the church. But when society came 
to include not only Christians of different faiths or polities, but also 
persons without religious belief, the injustice of taxation for one form 
of faith inevitably came to view. The church had no right, even under 
the specious pretext of the public good, to levy its support upon unbe- 
lievers or upon believers of another form. The church was sadly 
weakened not only by its injustice, but by depriving itself of all pos- 
sibility of personal sacrifice. The experience of Jeremy Belknap in 
this very parish, nearly a hundred years ago, taught him this les- 
son. In a letter which he read to the congregation, 30 April 1786, 
when he announced that his contract, depending upon such a law, was 
henceforth ended, he said : — 

" The law, indeed, authorizes the use of force to compel those who are delinquent 
to their duty ; but the Execution of such Law naturally tends to defeat the design 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 43 

for which the Gospel is preached, to promote discord, hatred, and envy, instead of 
peace and good-will, and to involve a minister in distress and perplexity, if he has 
any feeling." 

But Jeremy Belknap was in advance of his age. 

The war of the Revolution should have overturned this system, but 
it did not do so while the war continued. Doubtless the better under- 
standing of liberty secured, in the Bill of Rights of 1792, this declara- 
tion : — 

" And no person of any one particular religious sect or denomination shall ever 
be compelled to pay towards the support of the teacher or teachers of another per- 
suasion, sect, or denomination. . . . And no subordination of any one sect or 
denomination to another shall ever be established by law." 

With this provision in fundamental law, it is difficult to see how 
persons of other denominations could be taxed to support the ancient 
"standing order." Yet they were. The statute of 1791, "for regulat- 
ing towns and the choice of town officers," continued the authority by 
saying : — 

"The inhabitants of each town in this State, qualified to vote, as aforesaid, at any 
meeting duly and legally warned and holden in such town, may, agreeably to the 
constitution, grant and vote such sum or sums of money as they shall judge necessary 
for the settlement, maintenance, and support of the ministry, schools, meeting-houses 
... to be assessed on the polls and estates, in the same town, as the law directs." 

This injustice could not last. Men were taxed to build houses 
whose thresholds they never crossed. They were taxed to support a 
ministry whose teachings, it may be, they regarded as fatally erroneous. 
Relief had to come ; and a partial relief was had by certain legislative 
concessions. The Free Will Baptists were declared to be a denomina- 
tion by act 7 December 1804. The Universalists obtained the same 
recognition 13 June 1805, and the Methodists, 15 June 1807. Yet 
such was the strange perversity of the adherents of the decaying sys- 
tem that some eminent lawyers believed these acts to be unconstitu- 
tional, and the Supreme Court had actually, in 1802, decided that 
Universalists and Congregationalists were but one denomination. And, 
on the other hand, the Congregational churches blindly upheld a system 
which drove thousands away from their altars into other denominations. 

The partial relief given by these acts of legislation did not relinquish 
the theory that all persons must be taxed somewhere, nor did it remove 
the friction inseparable from deciding individual cases. The voluntary 
principle had to be established, and the State was wiser than the church. 
Discussion of the principle involved began, and was sometimes violent. 
Controversial literature of that period is plentiful ; on the one hand, 
insisting upon liberty of conscience; on the other, insisting on the 



44 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

alleged general good, and imbued with the gravest fears that the end- 
ing of taxation would destroy the churches. Frequent suits at law fed 
the agitation. How little could our fathers foresee that the complete 
separation of church and State would enable the church to rise at 
once into a higher and more vigorous life, and open the way to the 
grand achievements which are making the Christian history of this 
century ! 

The Federalist party almost entirely sustained the principle of taxa- 
tion. Their opponents demanded its abolition. A test came at the 
election in 1816. William Plumer, the advocate of religious freedom, 
was chosen governor by the then largest vote ever cast for a candidate 
for that office. History says that it was even more to their support 
of the practice of taxation for church support than to their opposition 
to the war of 1812 that the Federalist party in this State perished. 

It was not, however, until the year 18 ig, that the fruits of this victory 
were gathered. In that year, after a hard struggle, and by a small 
majority, while declaring the right of any sect or denomination to form 
societies empowered to levy taxes on the polls and estates of members, 
the legislature incorporated into the laws the following : — 

" Provided, That no person shall be compelled to join or support, nor be classed 
with, nor associate to, any congregation, church, or religious society, without his 
express consent first had and obtained. 

" Provided, also, if any person shall choose to separate himself from such society 
or association to which he may belong, and shall leave a written notice thereof with 
the clerk of such society or association, he shall thereupon be no longer liable for 
any future expenses which may be incurred by said society or association." 

By this act the churches were emancipated from dependence upon 
the power of the State, and became free in Christ Jesus. 

We may look at the gradual effect of the changes in sentiment upon 
this parish. 

The record of 20 March 1810 says: "It was put to vote to Excuse 
several Persons which have certificates from the Baptist [Free, proba- 
bly] preachers from paying their taxes in the year 1809, & past in the 
Negative." 

The warrant which called the meeting of 27 March 181 1 had this : 
"To see if the parishioners will give the Wardens liberty to abate those 
Taxes charged against such Individuals as shall produce a proper Cer- 
tificate from any regular Society by Order of the Wardens." The vote 
was " to waive the Abatement of Taxes by the Wardens till the Cases 
now depending shall be determined." 

On the 4 November 181 1, a committee was appointed to "take into 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 45 

Consideration the Objections of a Number of the parishioners against 
paying their Taxes and make Report at their next meeting." The 
committee reported 2 December 181 1, and was continued in office ; but 
at that meeting it was voted that " a certificate from the Wardens shall 
free them [the dissentients] from paying their taxes." The following 
request, signed the day following, was doubtless the result : — 

A Petition to the Honorable parish Wardens of Dover or Committee of said 
Parish Whereas we the subscribers have not attended your meeting this Number 
of years and have attended other meetings, we pray your honours to take it under 
Consideration and discharge us from paying ministers or ministerial Taxes for we 
wish to have liberty of Conscience. 

John Gage Benja Hayes 

Joseph Waldron Caleb Ricker 

Joseph Waldron, jr. John Bickford 

Job C. Waldron Thomas Gage 

Saml Foss James Gray 

Dover, December 3, 181 1. 

In the warrant for the parish meeting of 15 May 18 15 was the fol- 
lowing article : — 

" To see if said parish or Inhabitants disannex the subscribers to said Petition 
and others who may hereafter associate with them and their Estates from said first 
parish and Dissolve their Parochial Contributions therewith in such manner that 
they may hereafter Enjoy the Constitutional Right of worshiping God according to 
the Dictates of their own Conscience." 

No action on this subject until 27 March 1816, and then the action 
was adverse. 

The following notice is the first of a series : — 

Dover, March 31, 18 17. This may certify whom it may concern that the bearer 
Jacob Currier is an attendant of the Methodist meeting in this town & contributes 
to the support of the ministry in this order & therefore should be released from the 
support from [of] any other Order according to the Constitution of this State. 

John Lord, Circuit Preacher. 

The following other persons appear, by the records, to have withdrawn 
from membership in the parish, a few giving their new denominational 
relation : — 
Richard Waldron, Methodist, 4 April Amos White, 31 March 1S27. 

1817. Jonathan Gage, " " " 

Amos Cogswell, 27 March 1820. George Andrews, 8 February 1828. 

Nathaniel Watson, 20 March 1823. George Piper, 20 March 1828. 

Simon Wingate, 31 March 1823. Nathaniel W. Ela, 25 March 1828. 

Thomas T. Marston, " " " Daniel Home, " " " 

William Flagg, 13 June 1825. Joshua Ham, " " " 

Joseph Smith, 24 March 1827. John Gould, 29 March 1828. 

Aaron Watson, 27 March 1827. 



46 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

The principal withdrawal to the Unitarian society was as follows: — 

To Mr Philemon Chandler Clerk of Revd Mr Clary's Society in Dover. 

Sir, We, the undersigned, having become members of the Unitarian Society in 

this Town, intend from this time to separate ourselves from the Revd Mr Clary's 
Society and do hereby request you to take our names from the list of its members. 
March 31, 1828. 

Ezra Green G. W. F. Mellen 

Jacob M. Currier Cyrus Goss 

James Whitehouse E. Tredick 

J. B. H. Odiorne T. T. Tredick 

Samuel W. Carr Benjamin Barnes, jr. 

Ezra Young Thomas J. Palmer 

George W. Kittredge R. H. Little 

Eri Perkins A. Folsom 

Matthew Bridge Samuel B. Stone 

John W. Mellen Benjamin T. Tredick 

William H. Kittredge James C. Sewall 

Abigail Atkinson Stephen Toppan 

Thomas Currier J. Perkins. 

Others withdrawing were, in full, as follows : — 

John G. Tilton, 31 March 182S. Mark Noble, 30 March 1829. 

Henry A. Foot, " " " Aaron W. March, " " " 

William Hale, Unitarian, 20 November Obed E. Adams, Unitarian, 31 March 

1828. 1829. 

Edmund C. Andrews, 24 January 1829. Lucius Everett, 31 March, 1829. 

Nathaniel Young, 15 February 1829. Joshua Ham, " " " 

Thomas Bickford, 24 March 1829. Samuel Horn, " " " 

Thomas W. Kittredge, 27 March 1829. Samuel W. Dow, " " " 

John Mann, " " " William Hale, jr., 31 March 1830. 

Joshua Janes, 30 March 1829. 

To the year 1829, the parish continued to raise the moneys neces- 
sary for its support, by taxation on the polls and estates of its mem- 
bers. Perhaps the Unitarian departure of 1828 occasioned a change. 
The annual meeting of 1828 authorized the usual tax. The annual 
meeting held 25 March 1829 voted that " it is inexpedient and unneces- 
sary to assess a tax on the parish at this time," and "dismissed" the 
article in the warrant " to have a collector." The annual meetings of 
1 83 1 and 1832 were silent as to raising money, but the annual meeting 
held 14 March 1835 voted "to raise by subscription" $1,400 for 
annual expenses. It appears also by a report in 1837 that the tax 
laid in 1828 was the last tax for the support of the ministry. The 
new method of raising moneys was continued until 1878, when the 
method of renting pews was adopted, so simple and so successful in 
its working. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 47 

I have said that perhaps the Unitarian departure partly occasioned 
the change in the method of collecting moneys. That departure was 
a marked event in the history of this parish, and gave it a shock 
which tested to the utmost its strength and its stability. 

A great change had come over the industrial and social life of 
Dover. Early in this century, there was some ship-building on the 
lower river. Some sawmills were on the upper streams. At the lower 
falls of the Cochecho, the north side had a grist-mill and a sawmill, 
an anchor-mill for a few years, and in 182 1 a nail factory. The south 
side of the same falls gave accommodation for a fulling-mill, an oil- 
mill, a grist-mill, a carding machine, and a pottery. The river high- 
way brought, also, supplies to a few traders for the country traffic 
which came, in the winter, even from beyond the White Mountains, 
and from Vermont. The main occupation of the people was agri- 
culture. 

But the "Dover Cotton Factory "was incorporated 15 December 
1812, largely of Dover men, with a capital of $50,000, and built a 
cotton mill at the fourth falls of the Cochecho. It came down to the 
lower falls in 1822, with a capital of $500,000 (so made 21 June 182 1), 
which became a million 17 June 1823 (as the "Dover Manufacturing 
Company"), and a million and a half 20 June 1S26. These additions 
of capital were made mainly by Massachusetts wealth. The " Com- 
pany " utilized the " Nail Factory " on the north side for mechanical 
work connected with the mills, but built an iron shop and a " wood " 
shop in place of the old grist and saw mills. On the south side, it 
swept away fulling-mill, pottery, and every other industry ; it built a 
great mill in 1822, another in 1823, and another in 1825 ; and it erected 
buildings with the means of printing its own cloths. The " Cocheco 
Manufacturing Company," incorporated 27 June 1827, purchased all 
these interests, but it made no essential changes. 

With these great works, a new population came in. In the ten 
years following the year 1820, nearly twenty-five hundred inhabitants 
were added to the " village " alone. Some came from the country 
towns. Some, skilled labor generally, came from England. Officials 
of the new enterprise were mostly sent from Massachusetts. 

There were Methodist services held at " Upper Factory " before 
1820, and Methodists dedicated a meeting-house here in 1825. A 
Universalist society was organized in 1825, and a Free Will Baptist 
church was organized in 1826. These organizations scarcely affected 
the parish church. 

But in tlie new population was a different element. The Unitarian 
question had already accomplished a division in Massachusetts. The 



4o THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

influential men who came here with the cotton work were generally 
Unitarian. James F. Curtis, the " agent," who had been a naval officer, 
and was such on board the Constitution when that vessel captured the 
Cyane and the Levant; Matthew Bridge, out-door superintendent, 
Benjamin Barnes, chief clerk, and others employed, were all Unitarians. 
There was a similar element, perhaps but partially developed, in the 
old parish. The call to Martin L. Hulbert in 1806, afterwards a Uni- 
tarian, resisted because of doubts as to his doctrinal soundness, and 
who, nevertheless, had a majority in his favor, indicated this drift. 

Joseph W. Clary became minister of this parish in 18 12, and was 
its minister during the transition epoch. He was a man of great ex- 
cellence of character, and a thorough believer in evangelical doctrine, 
but of the then severe Andover type, having graduated at Andover in 
181 1. He was conscientious, and his conscientiousness made him un- 
compromising. He saw, as he believed, even in the church, a laxity 
in belief, and a lack of the religion of experience. He set himself 
quietly to the work of indoctrinating the people. He succeeded ; that 
is, he made a portion of the people resolute in the old faith ; but what 
secured this success dissatisfied another portion of his people. It is, 
perhaps, a useless question whether even the less rigorous preaching 
of the present day, if it had then existed, could have prevented this 
separation without compromise of principles on some side. I think 
there were radical differences, and these differences were made no 
less plain by Mr. Clary's style of doctrine and vocabulary of state- 
ment. 

The separation came in 1827. The dissentients from the old faith 
made no attempt to control the parish, but quietly withdrew. Their 
first meeting with reference to organization was held on Sunday, 28 
August 1827, and on the 4th of September following, being Sunday, 
"The First Unitarian Society of Christians in Dover" was organized. ^ 
Their first meeting for public worship was held in the Court House, 

' The present clerk, George H. Henderson, kindlv accedes to my request and gives me the list of 
those who, in the language of the record, "became members up to January 30, 1828," viz. : Ezra 
Green, Daniel M. Durell, Jacob M. Currier, John B. H. Odiorne, Edward Tredick, William Flagg, 
John W. Mellen, Cyrus Goss, Brackett Palmer, Benjamin Barnes, jr., Benjamin T. Tredick, James 
C. Sewall, T. T. Tredick, Jonathan Brown, Stephan Toppan, D. J. Frothingham, Thomas J. Palmer, 
Enoch H. Nutter, Samuel W. Carr, Samuel B. Stone, George W. F. Mellen, Eri Perkins, J. L. Fol- 
som, Nathaniel R. Hill, Jonas C. March, Samuel Goodwin, Jeremy Perkins, Stephen S. Stone, John 
Dyer, John T. Gibbs, Joseph B. Turner, George W. Kittredge, H. W. March, Lorenzo Rollins, James 
Hill, loseph Hervey, Nathaniel Willand, Samuel Ham, Elisha Woodbury, T. B. Kittredge, George 
W. Prince, Caleb T. Jacobs, A. Folsom, R. H. Little, Sherburn Sleeper, Leonidas V. Badger, How- 
ard M. Henderson, Thomas Currier, James Whitehouse, Frederick Folsom, Matthew Bridge, Forest 
Eaton, Samuel Dunn, John S. Durell, Thaxter Russell, William N. Andrews, N. R.Long, Woodbury 
T. Prescott, Ezra Young, John Mann, Lucius Everett, George Piper, William Hale, George Andrews, 
John Watson, jr. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 49 

4 November following, when the scholarly Henry Ware, jr., of Boston, 
ofhciated. In the following year their meeting-house was erected. 
The church^ was organized i6 February 1829, and on the next day 
their house was dedicated, and the brilliant young orator, Samuel K. 
Lothrop, since the honored pastor of Brattle Square, in Boston, was 
ordained pastor. 

The Unitarian society was strong. Much of the wealth and influ- 
ence of Dover were represented upon its rolls. It had the leading 
officials of the mills, whose letter-book shows how minutely they 
informed the directors in Boston of progress in the new society. Mer- 
chants like George Andrews, J. B. H. Odiorne, George Frost, Obed 
E. Adams, Joseph Smith, Enoch H. Nutter ; public men such as 
William Hale, a fonner congressman ; five physicians, — Ezra Green, 
deacon of the old church, the surgeon in the Ranger under John 
Paul Jones, Asa Perkins, George W. Kittredge, Jacob Kittredge, and 
Samuel W. Dow; lawyers, — Judge Daniel M. Durell, later a con- 
gressman, James Bartlett, and later the eminent John P. Hale ; and 
the editors and proprietors of both the newspapers of the town. 
Such were the men. And they built an attractive brick church in 
modern style, and listened to an eloquent and cultured minister. 

The parish was greatly depleted. Its wooden meeting-house was 
old, in an old style, whose very stove sent its smoke through a pipe 
which ran out of a gallery window. Th'e minister, though faithful, 
could not compete in attractiveness with the young orator at the 
head of Kirkland street. But there were left John Wheeler and his 
son John H. Wheeler, Asa A. Tufts, John Riley, William Woodman, 
Andrew Peirce, Peter Gushing, Asa Freeman, Moses Paul, Daniel M. 
Christie, Philemon Chandler, William Plaisted Drew, William Picker- 
ing Drew, Oliver S. Home, Michael Whidden, John J. Hodgdon, John 
B. Sargent, William Palmer, George Pendexter, Dr. Arthur L. Porter, 
William P. Wingate, Joshua Banfield, James Davis, and others whose 
names are fresh in memory. Many of these were young men then ; 
only one — Asa A. Tufts — survives in this October. 

These men, and the godly women whose faith never failed, had no 
fear. Their pastor sadly withdrew from this church and parish, but 
with a generous provision. This parish welcomed to its pastorate, in 
1828, the gentle, earnest, brilliant preacher, Hubbard Winslow, not 
inferior to Clary in the essentials of the faith, and not inferior to 

1 The original members of the church were, Ezra Green, Daniel M. Durell, James K. Curtis, 
George W. F. Mellen, Abigail Atkinson, Sophia Williains, Deborah Green, Mary S. Durell. Per- 
sons added up to May 1830: Howard M. Henderson, Elizabeth Kinsman, Mary A. Woodbury, 
William Hale, Lydia Hale, Mary Tredick, Mary Abbott., 



50 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

Lothrop in the graces of the orator. The men of this parish, before 
the close of the year 1829, had dedicated a new church, not inferior 
at least, in architectural beauty, to any in this town. Under the brief 
four years' ministry of Mr. Winslow, inclucUng the time prior to his 
successor's installation, one hundred and eighty were added to the 
church, and the future of the parish was assured. 

Under the territorial parish system, naturally a system of coercion 
as then administered, the people of the parish were forced by law 
to attend public worship. Penalties for absence were inflicted. Of 
this parish, it may be said that I find no traces of such laws except 
in the period while the Pascataqua was under Massachusetts govern- 
ment. But even the Massachusetts law was no novelty. It was the 
law in England also. In the Episcopal colony of Virginia, the same law 
prevailed as early as 161 o, there requiring attendance twice on each 
Sunday, with a penalty of a fine for the first offence, whipping for the 
second, and death for the third. Our forefathers were subject sim- 
ply to the enactments of the age. Yet here the law was seldom 
enforced. Rigidness seems to have been only occasional. In 1656, 
James Rollins was admonished for neglecting " the public meeting," 
and was sentenced to pay fees, — two shillings and sixpence. In 1663, 
there was a decided enforcement of penalties. The court records 
show in that year that William Roberts, of Oyster River, had been 
absent twenty-eight Sundays, the penalty being five shillings for each 
absence ; William FoUett, sixteen ; Thomas Roberts, thirteen ; Mary 
Hanson, thirteen ; Richard Otis, wife, and servant maid, thirteen ; Jel- 
lian Pinkham, thirteen, but, as her husband refused to pay the fine, 
she was set in the stocks one hour ; James Nute, sen., wife, and son, 
twenty-six days, and, for entertaining Quakers four hours in one day, 
forty shillings per hour ; James Smith confessed to have been once at 
a Quaker meeting, and was fined ten shillings for that heinous offence ; 
John Goddard, four days and twice at the Quaker meeting; Robert 
Burnum had been to Strawberry Bank to meeting, and explained 
matters, " which showed him to the Court not to be obstinate " ; but 
Humphrey Varney "pleaded non-conviction," which shows that he 
was inclined to the Quaker heresy, " unto whom the Law was this day 
read, and he was admonished." It is evident that this sudden awaken- 
ing in favor of enforcing the law was caused by the presence of 
Quakers. But the law grew obsolete, and died. The tithingman, 
however, continued into the last century to prevent travelling on Sun- 
day, and to enforce order in church. 

The territorial system, because it united church and state, also nat- 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. $1 

urally made such religious persecution as is found in our American 
annals. Our own share is due to our subjection to Massachusetts 
from 1 641 to 1679. Its first instance applied to Baptists. Massachu- 
setts had a poor opinion of this kind of people. Associating our Bap- 
tists with the Anabaptists of the preceding century in Europe, the 
Massachusetts law of 1644 says : " Forasmuch as experience has plen- 
tifully and often proved that since the first arising of the Anabaptists 
a hundred years since, they have been the incendiaries of common- 
wealths and the infectors of persons in the main matters of religion, 
and the troublers of churches in all places where they have been," and 
some such in New England have "denied the ordinance of magis- 
tracy and the lawfulness of making war " ; therefore any person shall 
be banished who "shall either openly condemn or oppose the bap- 
tizing of infants, ... or shall purposely depart the Congregation at 
the administration thereof." It is somewhat difficult to see the con- 
nection ; but the statute goes on to explain that it is because " they 
that have held the baptizing of infants unlawful have usually held 
other errors and heresies together therewith," often "concealed till 
they spied out a fit advantage to vent them." Such were the dangers 
of denying infant baptism. I find, however, but one instance of com- 
plaint here. Our first ruling-elder, Edward Starbuck, fell into this 
heresy. On the 3d of October 1648 he was fined and admonished for 
** disturbing the peace of the church." At the same time the grand 
jury presented him for " denying to join with the church in the ordi- 
nance of baptism " ; he was thereon obliged to recognize to appear at 
the next court of assistants in Boston to answer to complaints of his 
violating the law against Anabaptists, and " furthermore that he will 
be of peaceable and good behaviour towards all men, and especially 
towards the Reverend Teacher of Dover." Elder Starbuck remained 
in Dover, however, and not molested, I think, until the year 1659, 
when he, Thomas Macy and family, James Coffin, of Dover (then 
a youth of nineteen years), and Isaac Coleman (a boy of twelve 
years), sailed for Nantucket in an open boat. Mr. Starbuck came 
back the next year for his family, most of whom removed with him. 
He was a valuable citizen, both here and there. His descendants 
became, many of them, Quakers. Whittier's poem, "The Exiles," 
perpetuates the memory of Thomas Macy and his wife, but omits, for 
poetic reasons, the mention of the others in the open boat. But to 
these exiles from Dover, also, who thus settled Nantucket, will apjDly 
his verses : — 



52 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

" And how, in log-built cabin, 

They braved the rough sea weather ; 
And there, in peace and quietness, 
Went down life's vale together. 

" How others drew around them, 
And how their fishing sped. 
Until to every wind of heaven 
Nantucket's sails were spread." 

The famous order of Captain Richard Walderne, magistrate, dated 
22 December 1662, directing the constables of several towns to whip 
certain "vagabond Quakers," viz., Anne Coleman, Mary Tompkins, 
and Alice Ambrose, is preserved in Quaker annals. Whittier's recent 
poem, '* How the Women went out of Dover," commemorates it, and 
he makes one of them predict Walderne's fate sixteen years later : — 

" In the light of the Lord a flame we see 
Climb and kindle a proud roof-tree. 
And beneath it an old man lying dead. 
With stains of blood on his hoary head." 

Bishop's New England Judged gives a narrative of this transaction, 
and of later incidents of Quaker work here, evidently furnished by the 
Quaker participants. A few other cases of imprisonment of visiting 
Friends, or of setting in the stocks, are mentioned. 

Under the old system of enforcing uniformity, these records are not 
surprising. Yet the laws were not enactments of Dover, but of Mas- 
sachusetts, and the magistrates were of Massachusetts appointment. 
The penalties were not unusual ; stripes were no uncommon form of 
punishment ; nor were women exempt from them anywhere. Neither 
Quakers nor Quaker women were singled out for exceptional kind of 
punishment. It is interesting to see what Massachusetts thought of 
Quakers. " Whereas," says the statute of 14 October 1656, " there is a 
cursed sect of heretics lately risen up in the world, which are commonly 
called Quakers, which take upon themselves to be immediately sent of 
God, and infallibly assisted by the Spirit to make and write blasphe- 
mies, despising government and the order of God in church and com- 
monwealth, speaking evil of dignities, and reviling the magistrates 
and ministers, seeking to turn the people from the faith and gain pros- 
elytes to their pernicious ways," etc. In 1657, a law calls it "the 
cursed sect of the Quakers," and imposed a fine of forty shillings an 
hour for entertaining a Quaker. In 1661 was passed a law to whip 
"vagabond Quakers," and the order of Walderne, in 1662 (to whom 
8 October 1662 the Bay government committed the duty of enforcing 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 53 

this law " within the said town of Dover "), was ahnost a verbatim copy 
of the statute. This transaction was, also, not long after the letter of 
Charles II. to the Massachusetts authorities (dated 28 June 1662), in 
which he required that the free exercise of worship and sacraments be 
allowed to members of the Church of England, but was careful to say : 
" We cannot be understood hereby to direct or wish that any indul- 
gence be granted to those j^ersons called Quakers, whose being [is] 
inconsistent with any kind of government. We found it necessary, by 
the advice of our parliament here, to make sharp laws against them 
here, and we are well contented that you do the like there." 
■ Against the Quakers were the universal spirit of the age, the declared 
opinion of the king, and an honest fear of their assertions of being 
individually directly guided by God, even in denunciation of existing 
governments. Nor did the conduct or speech of travelling " Friends " 
tend to conciliate. They were not the peaceable citizens of later gen- 
erations. They interrupted public worship. They write that they 
entered a session of our court, not summoned and with no interest there, 
and addressed the magistrates, " Ye who spoil the poor and devour the 
needy, ye who lay snares and traps for the innocent." To Judge 
Thomas Wiggin, " Thou art old and very gray, thou art an old perse- 
cutor." Neither a church nor a court would now endure what the 
writer calls " these words of advice and counsel." 

Whatever may have been provocations, however, the treatment of 
the Quakers was barbarous, as was similar punishment of home offend- 
ers against any laws. Nor were these people punished because they 
interrupted public worship, or were disrespectful to judges. They suf- 
fered simply because they were Quakers. This treatment has no ex- 
cuse. Fortunately for our annals no gallows-tree disgraced our ances- 
tors. The few punishments here were a brief episode, inflicted by a 
Massachusetts magistrate, under Massachusetts laws, and earnestly pro- 
tested against by some citizens of Dover. The great doctrine of the 
inner light emerged from the roughness of its first preaching, and mel- 
lowed into the beauty of its present truth. In this parish it made many 
proselytes, and became very strong. The old names of Austin, Canney, 
Dam, Evans, Hanson, Nute, Otis, Pinkham, Roberts, Smith, Tebbets, 
Tuttle, Varney, suggest the directions into which the new doctrine spread. 
Thomas and John Roberts were the constables, " like sons of Belial," 
says the Quaker writer ; and their descendants largely became Qua- 
kers. Alice Ambrose was confined in a " wicked man's house," mean- 
ing thereby the jail, kept by Thomas Canney ; and the Canney descend- 
ants made plentiful Quakers. The persecuting period was very brief 
here. The " Friends' Meeting " is believed to have been a permanent 



54 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

institution in 1680. It is significant that in 1679, the year previous. 
New Hampshire had been made a separate province, its government 
inaugurated in 1680; and the Massachusetts laws ceased to govern. 

In the charter of the new province, liberty of conscience was allowed 
to all Protestants. It took New Hampshire nearly two centuries more 
to remove invidious distinctions against members of the Church of 
Rome. 

The first meeting-house of the Friends was built early, perhaps in or 
near 1680. It stood on Dover Neck, in the enclosure of the ancient 
Friends' burial ground, on the west side of the road. This house stood 
there until about 1770, when it was taken across the river, upon the 
ice, into Eliot, and used by a Friends' society there. The growing 
importance of Cochecho led to the building of another house, consider- 
ably prior to 1720,1 which stood on the southwest corner of Locust and 
Silver streets, where Jacob K. Purinton now lives. Both this and 
the one on Dover Neck became disused when the present house was 
built ; but their " business " house remained on that corner, and was 
long used as a dwelling-house by Samuel Watson, who died in that 
house 8 October 1800. The present meeting-house was raised 9 June 
1768. "Heard Rachel Watson," says Belknap, 11 July 1769, "preach 
in ye Quaker meeting-house." A small house for business purposes, 
and for meetings in the winter, once stood in the southern part of the 
same enclosure. This house was moved away, perhaps fifty years ago, 
and now stands on Spring Street, owned and occupied as a dwelling 
house by George W. Glines. 

It is significant of a change in public sentiment, that the town 
granted, 20 May 1717, "to the inhabitants of this town commonly 
called Quakers," ten acres of land for a pasture, "for the better 
Inabling them to accommodate their Travelling friends." And this 
grant was renewed, or a new one made,^ 30 March 1733. It is also 
significant of a changed sentiment, that when Dover sold lots upon 
the " Landing " to pay for a bell, the town, in deference to the scruples 
of the Friends, or from a sense of justice to persons who conscientiously 
abhorred bells upon meeting-houses, voted 28 March 1791 to pay to 
the Friends " their proportion of what the Lots sold for, so far as it 
respects the Expense of the bell." 

1 Samuel Bownas, an English minister of the Society of Friends, visited America in 1701 and 1726. 
In the latter year he came to the Pascataqua, and attended a meeting, called at his instance, " in the 
new meeting house " at Cochecho. 

^ This grant of ten acres was laid out 25 July 1733, " by the way that goes to Mallego"; "at the 
head of our town bounds between Bellemans Bank River and the Mast path that now goeth to 
Mallego." 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 55 



III. The Successive Meeting-houses. 

Where the emigrants held their first Sunday worship, on the last 
Sunday in October 1633, we cannot know. Perhaps it was in one of 
the few houses on the extreme point which pierces the tides of the 
Pascataqua. Perhaps it was under some broadly spreading tree. 
*' In spirit and in truth " was more than wall or rooftree. 

The first house. — Tradition said more than a hundred years ago, 
that they proceeded at once to build a meeting-house. I do not know 
.whether they had time to build their own family shelters and a meeting- 
house also before the cold season came. Winter was soon upon them. 
When they built, it was farther up the Point, but not so far up as the 
site of the second, where the earthwork remains. Nothing gives us 
the precise spot. There is a list which records the granting of lots in 
Cochecho marsh, in 1648. The list evidently follows the order of resi- 
dence of the grantees, beginning at the Point. The order is : — 

I. Anthony Emery. 2. Blank. 3. Mr. Bellew. 4. George 
Walton. 5. The Church. 6. Bhvik. 7. John Hall. 8. John Heard. 
9. Henry Beck. 10. William Walderne. 11. Hatevil Nutter. 12. 
John Newgrove. 13. Henry Longstaff. 14. John Goddard. 15. 
James Nute. 16. Robert Hurkenes. 17. James Rallenes. 18. Wil- 
liam Furbur, 19. Richard Walderne. 20. John Baker. Of these, 
Rallenes [Rollins] and Furbur were of Newington. Richard Walderne 
and John Baker were of Cochecho. The others had houses in the 
order of names. We know where Mr. Nutter lived. His house stood 
on the east side of the road, about fifteen rods north-northeast from 
the northeast corner of the old fortification ; there is the remnant of 
the cellar to this day. According to the list above given, the church's 
lot was little more than half-way to the Point. Next to it was George 
Walton's, and his house was the tavern. 

To this building I have found but two allusions in its own time. 
Thomas Larkham, the fourth minister of this parish, wrote^ to John 
Winthrop, the governor of Massachusetts, 3 January 1640-1, giving 
some account of the unhappy dissensions between himself and Han- 
serd Knollys, with whom he was colleague. In that letter he says, 
" He gave forth words that he would deale with one of our magis- 
trates, & mee first of all, before any exercise should goe one, & 
indeede was ready in the meetinge house so to doe, in a marvellous 
stiffe way, had not the magistrates interposed." The other is similar. 

1 The original letter is still preserved by Robert C. Winthrop of Boston. The letter is printed in ( 
Mass. Hist. Collections, Vol. I. 



56 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER, 

In this first house successively preached William Leverich, George 
Burdett, Hanserd KnoUys, Thomas Larkham, and Daniel Maud. It 
had no bell, but the following vote of the town shows the primitive 
method of summoning the people to this house of God : — 

"27th of the 9th mo. 48. It is this day ordered at a publique Towne meeting 
that Richard Pinckome shall beate the drumme on Lord's da3's to give notice for the 
time of meeting, and to sweep the meeting house for the which hee shall be allowed 
six bushells of Indian corne for his pay this yeare and to be freed from Rates." 

In this house, doubtless, took place the organization of the First 
Church, It was under the ministry of Hanserd Knollys. The date 
is not closely certain, but a comparison of events recorded in the jour- 
nal of John Winthrop shows conclusively that it was before the end of 
December 1638, and probably not before that month. It was the sec- 
ond church in New Hampshire. The church at Hampton, its senior, 
came here from Massachusetts as an organized body, apparently in 
1638.1 

The second house. — The increase of population by reason of the in- 
creasing business in manufacturing lumber outgrew the accommoda- 
tions of the first house. Perhaps the people wanted a better as well as 
larger house, — for public town business meetings, as well as public 
worship. On the 5th of December 1652 the town granted extensive 
timber lands, or rather the right to cut thereon, for his mills, to Mr. 
Richard Walderne : — 

" In consideration whereof the aforesaid Mr, Richard Walderne doth bind him- 
self, his Heirs, his Executors & Administrators to erect a Meeting house upon the hill 
near Elder Nutters : the dementions of the said House is to be forty foot longe, 
twenty-six foot wide, sixteen foot studd, with six windows, two doores fitt for such a 
house with a tile coveringe, & to planck all the walls, with glass & nailes for it, & to 
be finished betwixt this & Aprill next come twelve month wch will be in the year 
1654 : " 

From the southern extremity of the Point, this site is distant a mile 
and three quarters upward as the road goes. It is at the southern 
extremity of the swell of land which slopes gently on either side to 

1 The original first church in Exeter was once the third church in New Hampshire. Some claim was 
formerly made that this church was formed in 1638 ; but as the records of the First Church in Boston 
show the dismissal of Rev. John Wheelwright and others to form this church as not taking place until 
6 January 1639, it is manifest that the organization could not have been in 1638. But that original first 
church ended when, in 1643, Wheelwright and his friends left Exeter. An attempt was subsequently 
made to organize another church, but it was stopped by the Massachusetts General Court. The now 
existing First Church in Exeter was organized 21 September i6g8, whose record commences, "The 
order of proceeding in gathering a particular church in Exeter." A claim formerly made, that the 
present church, formed in 1698, was a reorganization of the church which expired in 1643, and of which 
not one soul was " reorganized," is too absurd to need a reply. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 5/ 

the waters, — to the Newichawannock on the east, and to the Bellamy 
on the west. It seems as if our hardy ancestors chose this spot for its 
beauty. From it one sees the river on the east, the Eliot woods be- 
yond, and Agamenticus rising on the coast of Maine. On the south 
the eye follows the broad Pascataqua on its way to the ocean. On 
the southwest is seen the same river coming out of Great Bay, with 
lovely islands in the waters, and Newington's fertile meadows and 
stately trees across the broad stream. Westward, it is but a few rods 
down to the Bellamy, and across it are the Three Points, and the wooded 
luxuriant farms. To the northwest you see the distant hills of Notting- 
ham and Northwood, and, from a spot close by, the great Blue Hills. 
" Beautiful for situation " was the Mount Zion of our fathers. 
The house appears not to have been finished at once, for — 

At a Meetinge of the Neighbourhood of Dover Neck Cochecho & Bloody Point, 
the 20th day of 1 2 Mo 58. 

Voted by the said Inhabitants that the Meetinge house on Dover Neck is to be 
underpin'd & Catted, & seeled w^^ Boards, And a pulpett & Seats convenient to be 
made & a Bell to be purchased, And this to be paid for by way of Rate upon 
each Man's estate accordinge to the Law of the Country. 

It was probably on account of this vote that, 13 June 1660, a tax of 
;^ioo was voted, "for ye fittinge up ye meeting house on dover Neck." 
The following vote shows another advance : — 

By the sellecktmen the 15th 2th mo 65. Ordered that Mr. Fetter Coffin shall be 
Impowered by this writing to Agree with som workman to Buld a terrett apon the 
Meitting house for to hang the Bell wch wee have Bought of Capt. Walldern and 
what it Cost to pay out of what credet the Neck of land hathe in your hand and if 
Cost moer wee doe ingage to pay you apon the Towne acompt. 

Richard Wallderne. 
Will Wentworth. 
John Roberds. 

The exiles of 1633 had been thirty years in the land and were grow- 
ing old, when the Sabbath bell first rang out over the waters, like the 
bells of old England ; but doubtless they praised God with tears. 

Richard Pinkham's drum was needed no longer. 

Deacon John Hall^ was engaged 13 Januar\^ 1671-2 to "swiep" the 
meeting-house and ring the bell for one year, aiid was to be paid three 
pounds for his service. 

But troublous times were at hand. The following vote foreshadowed 
them : — 



1 Deacon Hall lived near; his dwelling was southwesterly, towards the " back cove," and his spring 
is still known as " Hall's spring." 



58 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER, 

By the sellecktmen the 4th 5th [i6]6y. 

It is Agreid with Capt. Coffin to Buld the forte about the metting house on dover 
neck on hundred foot square with too Sconces of sixteen foot square and all the 
timber to be twelfe Inches thick and the wall to be Eaght foot hige with sells and 
Braces and the sellecktmen with the melletorey ofecers have agreed to pay him on 
hundred pounds in days workes at 2s 6d p day and alsoe to all persons Concerned 
in the worke on day to help to Rayse the worke at so many on day as he shall 
appoynt. 

This fortification was erected. Set in earth were the upright tim- 
bers around the house of God. From the alternate corners, south- 
east and nortliwest, were the projections from which sentinels could 
each cover with their muskets two sides of the work. No enemy could 
approach unseen from any quarter. 

The timbers have been gone for a century and three quarters. The 
house which stood within was ruinous a hundred and sixty years ago. 

On that spot a schoolhouse stood for many years in this century, 
and children's feet ran over the crests and played upon the slopes. 
The farmer's cattle have cropped the grass from its banks. But, crown- 
ing that gentle eminence, that earthwork remains clearly marked and 
sharply outlined after the summer rains and winter snows of two hun- 
dred and sixteen years. Men have stood in that earthwork, where you 
can stand, who came hither in the emigrant year 1633. Whether this 
parish will secure and set apart this historic spot and this memorial 
work is yet unknown. 

This is not the time nor is this the place for narrative of the Indian 
wars. I cannot even mention in detail the sufferings of this parish. 
To group the years and suggest the trials is all that is possible. 

Why the fortification about the meeting-house was built in 1667, I 
am at a loss to know. It seems to have been a time of profound 
peace. The crushing blow which Massachusetts had dealt the Pequots 
in 1637 had impressed the Indians with a fear already continuing thirty 
years. Passaconaway, the great Bashaba at Penacook, who included 
the tribes of the Pascataqua in his broad domain, was still alive and 
in favor of peace. In his old age, indeed, he called his sons and infe- 
rior rulers together, and warned them against war with the English. 
Wonolancet, son and successor, adhered to his father's counsel, although 
eventually driven to the homes of the Indians on the Kennebec. Kan- 
kamagus (grandson of Passaconaway) and Mesandowit, also of the 
Penacook blood, destined to become chieftains of note, had not then, 
perhaps, appeared in the councils of their nation. 

Some event or suspicion must of course have caused the town to 
take this precaution. There were Indians on the Cochecho, and sachems 
dwelt at Newichawannock and Swampscot. Wahowah, known better 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 59 

as Hopehood, was a hereditary sagamore of the lands from Exeter to 
Salmon Falls, and Hopehood's Point still gives the name to the lowest 
point on the western side of the Bellamy River. It would seem that 
he was but a stripling then, but he may have foreshadowed the ferocity 
with which he led the murderous assault on Salmon Falls in 1690. 

But eight years elapsed before the suspicions were justified. In 
1675, Philip began war in southern Massachusetts, and in twenty days 
after, the Indians began war on the Pascataqua. The first attack of 
the war was made in this parish, in September of that year. Then 
came three years of bloodshed. It was war with an enemy who dealt 
his. blows in stealthy surprises, who knew every path in the forests, who 
made engagements and treaties a cover for treacherous murders, who 
tortured prisoners by fire, and whose thirst for blood spared neither 
women nor helpless babes. Families by night were crowded into 
block-houses. If men worked in their fields, it was with the musket 
in one hand ; if they met for the public worship of God, the guns were 
stacked within the palisades, and sentinels kept watch while prayer and 
psalm went up to the Lord. 

Thirteen years of peace followed ; yet it was such a peace that in 
its thirteenth year the people still kept up their little forts, and resorted 
to them at night. Of these fortifications, timber-walled forts, there 
were six at Cochecho, one at Bellamy, perhaps two at Back River, 
twelve in Oyster River and Madbury, several at Salmon Falls, with 
perhaps others. Even this peace was rudely broken in 1689, by the 
treachery which sought shelter for women by the firesides only to open 
the doors for the murderers. In that June Cochecho was desolated. 
In the next season, Salmon Falls was destroyed. In 1694 Oyster River 
was nearly annihilated. Minor attacks were continually made. From 
that year 1689, to the end of the Indian wars, thirty-six years, twenty- 
three years were years of warfare on our soil. Dover was a frontier 
post. At no time were the people free from sudden attacks ; and in 
return, as they became stronger, their expeditions ravaged the Indian 
villages and destroyed their cornfields, until the enemy had no perma- 
nent home this side of Canada. In time, every man, without excep- 
tion save among the Friends, became a trained soldier of the woods, 
a keen marksman, a tireless ranger. A man of forty-six had spent half 
his years in the field. They fought to defend their dwellings, their 
wives, their children. They succeeded ; but in that fearful fifty years 
the suffering was great. They mourned for children seized from their 
agonized parents, and if not slain reared by aliens in an alien faith. 
Dover blood was perpetuated in Canada in the descendants of these 
captives. Scarcely a family but had its history of inhuman torture or 
bloody deaths. 



6o THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

When the end of the Indian wars came, it was fated that as Dover 
had been the scene of the first slaughter, that of 1675, so it was the 
scene of the last bloodshed, fifty years later. The Indian wars of 
Maine, New Hampshire, and Canada began and ended in this parish.^ 

The third house. — Dover Neck was long the seat of public business, 
— the meeting-house was the house for town meetings, — but its terri- 
tory was too limited to allow much growth ; nor was it a place of busi- 
ness. Oyster River rapidly passed it in the numbers of its people. 
Northward, Cochecho was the place of much making of lumber, and 
the frontier trading-post with the Indians. Some settlements in what 
is now Rollinsford, and especially at Salmon Falls, carried the extent 
of population still farther northward. In 1648 Dover Neck had twenty 
tax-payers. Bloody Point had nine, and Cochecho (including the Rol- 
linsford lands) had twenty-eight. In 1666 Dover Neck had twenty- 
two. Bloody Point sixteen, and Cochecho forty, while Oyster River had 
fifty-five. The disparity continued to increase. It was therefore inevi- 
table that the northern section should in time demand a removal of 
the place of public worship. 

The town records contain no vote as to the erection of the third 
meeting-house, the one which stood upon Pine Hill. The reason is, 
because it was erected by private individuals. 

Newington was made a parish 16 July 17 13. This act removed from 
our limits all the lands on the south side of the Pascataqua, the old 
Bloody Point. On the same date with the act incorporating Newing- 
ton, the assembly voted : — 

" And upon Representation of the great alteration that this Grant makes in the 
Town of Dover, and that there is a new meeting House built at Cochecho, much 
nearer the centre of the remaining Inhabitants of the said Town, 

" Ordered, that the selectmen of Dover give reasonable notice to the Town to 
choose proper persons to attend the next session of the General Assembly, to show 
cause why that House at Cochecho may not be the place of public worship for the 
future, or any other consideration thereupon." 



^ The first slain in these wars were in September 1675, when the Indians burned the houses belong- 
ing to the Chesleys, killed two persons in a canoe, and carried off two prisoners. The last was in Lit- 
tleworth, 15 September 1725, when Benjamin Evans and William Evans were killed, and Benjamin 
Evans, jr., taken to Canada. John Evans, also, was wounded, scalped, and left for dead, but recov- 
ered. Whittier, in " Snow Bound," says: — 

" Our mother, while she turned her wheel, 
Or run the new-knit stocking heel. 
Told how the Indian hordes c.ime down 
At midnight on Cochecho town. 
And how her own great-uncle bore 
Hij cruel scalp-mark to fourscore." 
Whittier's mother, Abigail (Hussey), born at Cochecho Point, was granddaughter of Joseph Evans, 
whose brother John bore the scalp mark. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 6l 

In accordance with the order of the assembly, the town made choice 
of its committee, voting, 17 August 1713, as follows: — 

" Captt. Tebbets, Ens. beard, Mr. Samll Emerson Chosen to Represent the Towne 
Att the next sessions of the generall assembly, to shew Reasons why the meeting 
house at Cochecha should not be stated the place of Publick worship for the futuer." 

At a session of the assembly held 15 May 17 14, it was voted to 

"Advise the inhabitants of Dover, at their next Town meeting, to choose three 
persons a committee to treat with those of Cochecho that were at the charge to erect 
the meeting House there, in order to agreement upon reasonable Terms, to make it 
the Town meeting House and the only place of meeting for the future ; but if they 
cannot c.ome to any agreement, that the persons chosen by the Town and three of the 
principal disbursers for erecting the said new meeting House at Cochecho, to appear 
at the next sitting of the General Assembly, and make report of their proceedings 
therein and wherein they differ, in order to a final determination of that matter; and 
that in the mean time the meeting be kept one Sabbath day at Dover neck, m the old 
meeting House, and the other at Cochecho, in the new." 

Two days after, being 17 May 17 14, the town 

" Voted, That Mr. Sever preach ye next Lord's day at Cochechn, and so Every 
other Lord's day during this sumer and till A final settlement be directed." 

On the 22d of April 1715, it appeared to the assembly that "there is 
no agreement about y^ Meeting house at Cochecho," and it was voted 
that " a committee of both houses be chosen to go to Dover to view 
both meeting houses there, & Enquire into the situation of y* Inhabit- 
ants thereab', «S: make report w"^^ of the two houses, since y* separa- 
tion of Newington, best suits y* remaining Inhabitants to meet con- 
stantly to attend y® Publick worship of God on y^ Lord's day." 

The council selected John Plaisted and Mark Hunking ; the house 
added Samuel Thing and Peter Weare, as committee ; and the select- 
men of Dover were notified to meet the committee " on Monday next 
at ten o'clock," which was 25 April 17 15. 

The committee reported the next day after the hearing. It had 
found that "the new Meeting house hath 73 [72?] Inhabitants as con- 
venient to it as y® Old hath 23, w*^"* renders the difference three to one, 
& we are of opinion y' the new meeting house at Cochecha is the most 
suitable place for the publick worship in that town." ^ 

' The names of the persons thus counted, translated into something intelligible, were these : — 

Those nearer the new meeting house than the old : — 

Cochecho -axid^ Souiersivorih. — Howard Henderson, Thomas Pots, Samuel Cosen, Eleazar Clark, 
William Stiles, Benjamin Wamoth, .Sylvanns Nock. Sylvai us Nock, jun., Philip Sta.pole, James 
StagiJole, Daniel Goodwm, Zachariah Nock, Tlinmis Nock, Lifut. Hatevil Roberts, Thomas Tibbets, 
John Tibbets, Ens. Paul Wentworth, Love Rcibtrrls, Samuel Smith, Jihn Wentworth, William Clark, 
Col. Richard Waldron, William Twombly, Joseph Ham, Lieut. Heard, Timothy Gerrish, Paul Gerrish, 
John Waldron, John H:im, William Foss, Thomas Home, John Home, John Heard, lienjamin 
Wentworth, Ephraim Wentworth, Benjamin Wentworth, jun., Gershom Wentworth, John Ricker, 



62 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

The assembly accepted the report, and on that day ordered that the 
" meeting to attend y* Publick worship of God on the Lord's day be 
hereafter held at the new meeting house at Cochecha," all the people to 
pay taxes for the support of the ministry there, excepting those of 
Oyster River and Bloody Point, the latter having been just previously 
made a parish. 

Thus and then Dover Neck ceased to be the public centre of the 
parish and town. The logic of population had transferred the seat of 
affairs to Cochecho ; but no change could take away the beauty of its 
scener}^, or its historic sacredness to the memor}^ of the emigrant 
fathers. 

Some conciliatory action, however, followed. " For an amicable 
union and for maintaining of Peace and Christian Love amongst us," 
an agreement was entered into, ii May 1716, between Richard Wal- 
dron, Capt. Timothy Gerrish, Lieut. Tristram Heard, Ensign Paul 
Wentworth, Sergt. John Ham, and Mr. William Fobs, in behalf of 
Cochecho, and Capt. Thomas Tebbets, Lieut. Joseph Roberts, Mr. 
Samuel Tebbets, Mr. Thomas Roberts, sen., and Ensign Joseph Beard, 
for Dover Neck, agreeing to join in calling a minister who should 
preach at Cochecho every Sabbath day in the months of November to 
April, both included, and every other Sabbath during the remainder of 
the year, the other alternate Sabbaths in May to October, both 
included, in the old meeting house on Dover Neck ; that on the accep- 
tance of this plan by the town, the new meeting-house at Cochecho was 
to become the town's meeting-house, " they paying in Equal proportion 
towards the decent finishing the same," and provided that every person 
building a pew there for himself and family should pay ten pounds 
•' towards the building and finishing the s^ house." The town was also 
to vote a sum not exceeding ten pounds for repairing the old house on 
Dover Neck. 

Maturin Ricker, John Heard, Thomas Downs, Jeremiah Rolhns, Jabez Garland, John Ellis, Morris 
Hobbs, Samuel Cromwell, James Guppy, John Wingate, John Twombly, Edward Evans, Benjamin 
Hanson, Nathaniel Young, Mark Giles, John Hayes, Peter Hayes, John Ham, Richard Hamock, 
Jonathan Young, Joseph Evans, Benjamin Evans, Nathaniel Hanson. 

Back River. — John Drew, Francis Drew, Israel Hodgdon, Zachariah Field, John Field, Daniel 
Meserve, Joseph Jenkins, James Pinkham, Solomon Pinkham, Edward Evans, jun., John Crosby, 
— "72 families." 

Indifferent families : — 

John Bickford, Thomas A».h, Samuel Kenney, Samuel Cearll, Richard Hussey, Edward Cloutman. 

Living nearer the old house on Dover Neck : — 

Capt. Tuttle, Capt. Tebbets, John Hall, John Foy, Joseph Hall, Nicholas Harford, Richard Ack- 
ling, Lieut. Joseph Roberts, Thomas Roberts, Nathaniel Roberts, John Roberts, Joshua Cromwell, 
Thomas Roberts, Samuel Tebbets, Samuel Willey, Nathaniel Perkins, Thomas Young, Esq., Joseph 
Beard. 

Back River. — Samuel Emerson, Richard Pinkham, Thomas Starboard, James Nute, Samuel 
Nute, — " 24 [23?] persons." 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 63 

This agreement was ratified and adopted by the town, 28 May 17 16. 
More money was needed, however, and at a town meeting held 20 May 
17 17, it was recited that inasmuch as the money granted by the town 
(of which I do not find the record) for glazing and seating the new 
meeting-house at Cochecho was not sufficient, it was voted " that if 
Any gentleman will be so kinde as to advance twenty or thirty pounds 
for that service, that it may be decently fitted for the present occations, 
and trust the towne for the same till next year, that money shall then 
be Raised to Reimburse them, and they first paid." 

The following vote shows when the third house became, substan. 
tially, the tDnly house, and when the bell came up from Dover Neck : — 

" Att a Parrish meetting held att the new metting hous att Cochecha the 20'*^ 
day of February i72o[-i] . . , z"*, a vote for fencing of the Parsonage Land, or 
part thearof. A vote for fencing in the whole 20 Acres of s"* Land. Att the meetting 
agreed with John Wingett to fence the s"^ Parsonage Land, which is 20 Acors, for 
Eighteen Pounds, and to be Paid out of the next years Rate, and the fence to be 
well made by the last day of aprell n'ext Insuing the Date hereof; and by the 25"" 
Day of December next the money is to be paid to s'^ Wingett or his orders, if the 
fence be made. Att the same meeting, voted that the meettings on Lords Day shall 
bee Constantly keep at Cochecha new meetting hous for the futer, Exsepting one 
Sabbath or two att Dover. Att the same meeting, voted that the Bell att Dover 
shall be brought up to Cochecha, — Sargant John Drew and Sargant Thomas Roberts 
Chosen vewers of s^^ fence when made." 

The meeting-house on Pine Hill stood but a few rods from the 
Gushing tomb, a little west of north. It was nearly square, and faced 
southerly, with an entrance at least on its front. It had no steeple. 
The bell, says the record of Asa A. Tufts in the church book, was 
hung on the schoolhouse near by, which stood where the present brick 
schoolhouse stands ; but another tradition says that the bell was upon 
a low framed tower near the church. In all respects this meeting- 
house was of the old style, — a high puljDit, sounding-board, broad 
centre aisle, square pews, and the like. 

In this house preached Nicholas Sever a brief period, and all the 
remainder of its days it was occupied by the long pastorate of Jona- 
than Gushing, who, however, lived to occupy its successor. 

This house was abandoned in 1758, when its successor was entered. 
The town voted, 27 November 1758, "That the Select men take care 
of the old meetinghouse in the Best manner they Gan, so that it may 
not be exposed to be tore to pieces this next winter." At a meeting 
held 26 November 1759, the town ap])ointed Mr. Samuel Emerson, 
Lieut. Moses \V' ingate, and Lieut. Dudley Watson, " a committee 
to Sell the old meeting house standing on s'^ pine hill in the best 
manner they Gan." Nothing further appears regarding this house, 



64 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

save that the last town meeting held in the house was that of 31 March 
1760. 

The Pine Hill burial ground, it is here natural to mention, was set 
apart for its purpose by vote of the town 29 March 1731. Perhaps, 
according to ancient custom, graves had already begun to group near 
the meeting-house. An earlier burial public ground had been set 
apart regularly on the east side of the Dover Neck road, which still 
remains, but without an ancient stone. The Friends' burial ground was 
on the western side of the Dover Neck road. A very ancient burial 
ground is that east of the Methodist church, sometimes called the 
" Waldron Ground," because the Waldrons once buried there. Thomas 
Westbrook Waldron's tombstone says that the remains of his great- 
grandfather, the famous Major Richard Walderne, taken from the ruins 
of the garrison-house^ destroyed 28 June 1689, were buried in that lot. 
The lot was once much larger, but a former owner of adjoining land 
sold off a tier of lots on its northern side, wherein diggers of cellars 
found the bones of the dead thus heartlessly desecrated. This ground 
was clearly the public Cochecho burial ground in early times. 

The vote of the town setting apart the Pine Hill lot, 29 March 1731, 
was as follows : — 

"Voted, That there be one acre & an half of Land Granted for the use of the 
Town for ever, for a publick Burying-place, To be Laid out by y* select men near 
y* meeting-house on pine-hill at Cochecha." 

This was the origin of that city of the dead, which has grown^ so 
populous, and to which your feet have turned on so many sad days. 
It contains the ashes of your departed : the departed themselves are 
not there. 

The foicrth house. — This house, the immediate predecessor of the 
one in which we meet to-day, stood upon the site of this present one. 
The history of its erection is gathered mainly from the records of the 
town. A special interest is in the fact that one third of the house, built 
in the year 1758, is still standing on another site and transformed into 
a dwelling-house. 

At a town meeting held 20 June 1757, it was 

' The site of that garrison-house is often stated wrongly. The house stood about the centre of the 
now open lot on Central street, between First and Second streets. My best authority was that of the 
late Mrs. Abigail (Waldron) Walker, daughter of Thomas Westbrook Waldron, who informed me that 
she remembered the little mound of the ruins still remaining in her childhood, and which was rever- 
ently kept undisturbed in their gardening. A silver spoon was once, however, found in the mound. 

' Successive additions of territory have been made to this burial place, whose dates I have not yet 
ri'corded. I well remember when its old part, in my boyhood, was surveyed, the lots made regular, 
the paths straightened; as I assieted in carrying the chain for Mr. William B. Wiggin, the surveyor. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 65 

"Voted, That a good house be provided for Publick worship. 

" Voted, That a new meeting house be built for the Publick worship of God. The 
voters were 29 yeas to 13 nays. 

"Also Voted at said meeting that the old meeting house be pull<^ Down & applyed 
towards building a new one as far as it will hold out. 

" Voted, That the new meetinghouse be set up Either where the old one stands or 
near by on the Town's Privilidge Either on the hill or under the hill as the Town 
shall think most proper. 

" Voted, That a committee be chosen to Draw a plan for the new meeting house 
with a suitable number of pews numbered and valued in order to be sold to carry on 
the Charge of building said house, and to take proper advise as to the bigness & 
moddle of sajd house — also voted that John Gage, Esq'', Daniel Horn, Job Clem- 
ents, Cap'. Rich<l Waldron, Nehemiah Kembal, Cap*. Thomas W^ Waldron & L' 
Joshua Winget be the Committe to serve in the above business on their own cost 
and prefer the same to the next meeting for the Town's approbation." 

At a meeting held 4 July 1757 : — 

Voted, That a plan of Berwick Lower meetinghouse taken by the Committe and 
prefered to the Town and that the Town accepted the same and that a meeting 
house of the like Dementions & bigness Except the highth be built on the Town's 
cost and that the Privilidges of the Pews be sold at publick vandue to Defray the 
Charge and Expense in Building said house as far as it will go. 

The Berwick lower meeting-house was the one of the present South 
Berwick church. It stood upon a cross-road which runs about a mile 
below South Berwick village, from the Eliot road to the York road. 
An ancient burial ground still marks the spot. 

At the same meeting the following action was taken : — 

Also Voted, That a Committee of three men be Chosen to sell the pew Privi - 
lidges at publick vandue & that Cap'. Thomas Westbrook Waldron, Stephen Evens 
and L* Dudly Watson be s*^ Committee and make return thereof the next Town 
meeting. 

Also Voted, at said meeting that Each bidder pay ten p cent Cash Down and 
Security for the remainder according to the form following viz, . . . 

At a meeting held 18 July 1757 : — 

Voted, first, That the Town accepts of the Report of the Committe for 19 pew 
Privilidges already sold. 

2'y That said Waldron Evens & Watson be further Chosen and Continued to 
sell all the remainder of the pew privilidges. 

•jdiy That said privilidges be sold at publick vandue to the highest bidder by said 
committe. 

4^7 That the frame be procured and Raised at or before the first Day of May next. 

5'y That a Committe of five men be chose to Carry on the building said meeting 
house, & that Cap' John Winget Cap' Tho* W^ Waldron John Gage Esq' M'' Shad- 
rach Hodgdon & M'' Daniel Plam be said Committe. 

6'y That Labouring men have thirty shillings old Tenor p day finding them- 
selves. 

7'y That the Committe appointed to build the house Draw Instructions for them 



66 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

to work by and Lay the same before the Town at the next meeting for their appro- 
bation and also of the place where they think most Convenient to build the new 
house or near the old house. 

The town voted instructions, 25 July 1757, to the committee to em- 
ploy in the work the purchasers of pew privileges, and others in the 
parish, so far as possible ; and to have " the house ready to use by the 
12 Day of May 1758." 

The town did not, however, escape the trouble almost inevitable in 
the location of meeting-houses in early times. It is not surprising that 
the bleak winds which sweep over Pine Hill should make some persons 
prefer a more sheltered location ; nor, on the other hand, that many 
should adhere to the old site simply because the old meeting-house stood 
there. The friends of the old rallied. The town voted, i May 1758, 
not to allow the committee to select a new lot. At an adjourned meet- 
ing, 8 May, it voted to build upon Pine Hill, " as near the old meeting 
house as may be set with convenency on the Town's privelege." A 
meeting was called for 5 June 1758, but that meeting adhered to the 
same vote. 

But a change came. At a meeting held 10 July 1758, the town voted 
that Capt. Thomas W. Waldron, Capt. Richard Waldron, and Lieut. 
Dudley Watson be a committee to " procure & make suitable Provision 
for the Raising the new meeting house." It voted also " that the new 
meeting house be Erected and set upon a place or Lot of Land 
Purchased from Joseph Hanson, Esq"", as by a deed' of this Date may 
appear." ^ 

You will notice how long time was allowed in which to frame the 
building, — from the i8th of July until the first of May following. But 
they builded strong frames in those days. They put oak in. They 
had no steam saws then to cut and square their posts and sills and 
beams. A fall and winter's work went into that frame. 

And while these town meetings were held and solemn determination 
had to build a house unto the Lord, and weighty deliberations made as 
to where to build, war was raging with the French and Indians. It 
had drawn away from our own fields then, but it demanded men. 
Old Ticonderoga was one of its scenes. From the westerly part of 
this old town marched Capt. Hercules Mooney, with ninety men ; and 
here Capt. John Titcomb, earlier a soldier of Louisburg, formed his 

1 See Appendix. 

2 "Thomas Millet Esqr L' Shadrach Hodgdon Sergt Wm Hanson Capt John Winget Ens Wm 
Twombly Mr Saml Emerson Capt Wm Shackford Ens John Drew Mr. Jona Bickford all Enter their 
Decent against the Illegality of said meeting." 

Nothing appears to have come from their " Decent against the Illegality." 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 6^ 

ninety-four men in front of that old house still standing nearly oppo- 
site this present edifice, and marched them away to the war. 

The house was finished. On the 2 2d of November 1758, the town 
voted : — 

" That the Rev'^. M'. Gushing for this Winter Season Shall preach & hold forth 
the Publick Worship of God in the new meeting house Built in said Town, and 
thereto Continue Said Service for the future, & that he begin the Publick Worship 
there by preaching one or more Sermons on Wednesday y« \-^ Day Dec. next." 

It was so done, and the house was dedicated 13 December 1758. 
You can see one third of it. It is owned by Theodore W. Woodman, 
and it is the first house this side the brook, on the east side of Court 
Street. It is one hundred and twent}^-five years old. 

The house, however, was not finished at the time it was dedicated. 
In fact, the building committee recommended, 8 November 1758, "to 
remove the long seats in the old house to the new one & set them 
up there till the Spring or Longer if needed." Further appropriations 
were made 7 July 1759, for completing the work; Capt. Richard Wal- 
dron was placed on the building committee in room of Capt. John 
Winget ; and it was voted " that the Committee that finishes the house 
be Impowered to Let out the whole or part thereof by a Jobb or 
Jobbs." 

The committee reported, 27 July 1761, the completion of their 
work. Their accounts (audited by Samuel Emerson, John Bickford, 
and James Young), showed the cost of the house to be ^11,248, i8sh., 
4d. This sounds very large. But it will be remembered that paper 
currency then was greatly depreciated. In 1758, ten pounds in cur- 
rency equalled one pound in silver. The house cost, therefore, a little 
over eleven hundred pounds. 

But the parish, incorporated 11 June 1762, found the house yet 
unfinished; and, 24 September 1764, voted: — 

"That the meeting house be finished this fall. That the cost of finishing said 
house be paid by the parishioners. M"". Dudley Watson, M"". Otis Baker, Maj^ John 
Titcomb & M"". Stephen Evens be a Committee to finish the meeting house this fall 
in a Good workmanlike manner & that they have all the Nails Laths or any other 
supplies heretofore purchased & not made use of for their use In finishing said 
house & that they have two thousand Pounds old tenor for finishing said house 
whereof they are to have full Power to Collect all the outstanding Debts due from 
the Persons Indebted to said Parish towards Building said house & the Remainder 
if any be after said sums are Collected to be paid by a Tax on s^ Parishioners & be 
paid them the ■s!^ Committee by the Last of March Next." 

Various changes or improvements are noted from time to time. 
Thus, 26 September 1765, "Voted, That the Pulpit, canopy, pillows 



68 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

[charitably "pillars"], Breast work, &c., of said meetinghouse be 
painted, & also all other Inside Paintings, viz., Doors, etc., as is usual 
for meeting houses." 

On the 3d of March 1772, it was "Voted, That the two hind seats 
of mens on floor be built for Singing seats." It is not probable that 
there was any choir prior to this time. 

When the doors opened directly into the air it was cold. The 
parish voted, 20 April 1786, "That the owners of Pews at the East 
End of the meeting house may build a Porch at the east End Door, 
not to extend more than seven feet from the house, at the expense of 
those who own Pews at said Door." 

It voted, 7 May 1792, "To sell a Pew Privelege in the Gallery on 
the Woman's side." This vote shows us that there was a men's gallery 
and a women's gallery. 

A marked change was made by vote of 17 August 1792. "Voted, 
To build a Pew for the Singers to project from the front of the front 
Gallery as far forward as the Committee shall think convenient, and 
that they proceed to do it as soon as may be." This had been done 
before 8 September following. It projected nearly into the centre of 
the house, was over the centre aisle, and stood upon pillars. It was 
taken away only a few years before the house was taken down. 

A vote of 26 March 1800 ordered, "That Benjamin Peirce purchase 
a Bur^'ing Cloth at the Expense of the parish." 

And 29 March 1826, a musical era appears : — 

Voted, That the Wardens be empowered to purchase for the use of the Society a 
suitable double bass Viol & such music books as may be necessary for use in the 
meeting house on the Sabbath & if necessary to furnish female assistance in sacred 
music — provided the whole expense does not exceed the sum of 100 Dollars. 

There had been musical instruments used before this vote, and 
women had been singers in the gallery. A bass-viol had been used, 
which is now the property of Asa A. Tufts, as it was once that of his 
father. Asa A. Tufts was the first to play upon the new double-bass 
viol thus purchased. A musical society called the " Dover Harmo- 
nious Society" practised church music and was the choir in public 
worship in Mr. Clary's time, but was dissolved shortly before his de- 
parture. Belknap's book of Psalms and Hymns was the book used. In 
the last century the old custom of lineing the hymns was still followed. 
Belknap's diary says, 23 March 1767, "At a Chh & Congrega: meet- 
ing Dec" Ham refus'd to sett y* Psalm & Cap' Evens was chose for y* 
Business." He writes 21 June 1767, "Voted to sing Watts' Psalms in 
Congregation. 28. Sung them y* ist Time." 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 69 

What became of the old bell which was rung on Dover Neck and 
thence was taken to Pine Hill, I do not discover. The last allusion I 
find is in a vote 26 May 1740 : "That the bell shall be rang at proper 
times and seasons. That the Selectmen shall be a Committee to agree 
with some proper person to ring the Bell at proper times and seasons." 
There is then a blank in bell-history until a meeting of 27 March 1775, 
when, on the petition of Otis Baker and others that the town would 
buy " a suitable bell & clock," it was voted that " nothing be done." 
Again, 6 March 1786, a town meeting was held, on the request of 
Ezra Green and thirty-eight others, to consider the subject of pur- 
chasing a bell. " Inasmuch," said the petitioners, " as this is the only 
Shire town in the County, and not being accommodated with a bell for 
the Convenience of said Town nor county." 

The town acted 13 September 1788. At that time, "hearing the 
Request of a Number of Inhabitants respecting a Bell, Voted, to sell 
Land on the Landing sufficient to pay for the Bell & the expense 
attending the same." Against that vote the Friends protested, 2 No- 
vember 1789. They did not believe in bells, and thought it to be 
unjust that town lands should be sold for such a purpose. The town 
admitted the justice of their complaint, but not until 28 March 1791, 
when it voted to repay to the Quakers their share of the proceeds of 
the Landing lots. 

On the 20th of October 1788, the parish voted "that the Parish war- 
dens be empowered to hang the Bell in the meeting house Belfry, and 
hire some suitable Person to Ring the same for the present year." It 
voted, I June 1789, "That the Bell be rung on Sabbath days and 
Lecture days as usual " ; " that the Bell may be rung on Week-Days 
at one o'clock and at Nine in the Evening, provided Individuals will 
be at the Expense of the same " ; " that the Wardens be impowered 
to hire some suitable Person or Persons to take care of the Meeting 
house and to Ring the Bell on Sabbath days and on Lecture days " ; and 
that " the Wardens be empowered to repair the Belfry and put it in 
such order as they shall think will be sufficient for ringing the Bell with 
safety." 

But the bell, years after, became cracked. Thereupon, 12 March 
1822, " the town appointed a committee to repair the bell as they may 
think proper." The records do not tell of the fruitless endeavors of 
that committee to restore the bell to its proper tone, but tradition does. 
They cut out a piece of the bell where the crack existed, but the rem- 
edy was vain. The bell was sent to Boston, and, with some addition 
of metal, recast by the Revere Company, its weight being 1,084 pounds. 
It was raised into the belfry of the old church 22 April 1822, andit 
6 



70 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

was placed in the belfry of the present church in October 1829, It 
is this bell, no credit in weight or tone, which is still used.' 

The appearance of that house is still in the memor}'^ of some of you, 
and from such of you and others now gone I have derived its description. 
It stood almost exactly on the site of the present house, but its length 
was at right angles to the present one. It was a building of two stories, 
having two tiers of windows, according to the old fashion. Its width 
was forty-seven feet, its length about seventy feet, its posts twenty-one 
feet. Its tower, running up into a belfry and spire, projected from the 
southwest end, and it contained an entrance into the house and stair- 
ways to the galleries. On the street side was a square projection, not 
reaching to the eaves of the building, but containing entrance to the 
floor and also stairways to the galleries. A door on the northeast end 
opened directly into the house. Bare braces supported the timbers of 
the ceiling. 

Three sides contained very broad galleries. From the centre of the 
street-side gallery projected a large square singing-gallery, supported on 
posts and reaching into the centre of the house, but this was taken away 
a few years before the house was demolished, and the singers retired to 
the seats directly behind. 

Opposite the singers' gallery, and holding the same position as the 
present one, was the pulpit. It was high, and its front stood upon two 
pillars which were afterwards used for the same purpose in your present 
house. It was reached by a stairway on the southerly side. Over it 
was the ornamented sounding-board. Down against the front of the 
pulpit was the somewhat elevated deacons' pew, — a bench where the 
deacons sat with their backs to the pulpit, and fenced in. 

The pews were square. A very broad aisle ran from the pulpit to 
the opposite door. Square pews were against the walls, and an aisle 
ran round between these and the centre blocks of pews. From the 
north and south doors short aisles ran to the centre pews. The seats, 
not all facing the minister, were hung upon hinges, which were raised 
while the people were standing in prayer, and were suffered to fall 
with a crash when prayer ended. One pew had the glory of a green 
cloth lining ; it was the Atkinson pew ; near the street door, and on 
the south side of the centre aisle. 

There were no means of warming that house until at least after the 
year 1822. Women brought foot-stoves in cold weather, and some have 
told me that pieces of very thick oak plank, thoroughly heated before 
coming to the house, were an excellent substitute, and long retained their 

1 Joseph Whitehouse, grandfather of Jesse (now living), saw the fourth house raised, and was sexton 
even into old age. He was succeeded by Plato Waldron, who continued until his death. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 7I 

warmth. Some time after the year 1822 a great stove was purchased 
by Jesse Varney, trader, for the parish. It stood in the broad aisle, 
and its smoke-pipe was carried out of the westerly window on the 
southern side, over the gallery pew of Amos White, which was the 
corner pew. A pane of glass was removed to allow the pipe to pass 
through the window. 

There was considerable decoration. Such were the little balus- 
trades on the tops of the pews ; the carving of the sounding-board, and 
the ornamental finish of the pulpit. 

The house, if ever painted outside, had become very dark in the 
early part of this century. One of the Prentiss family, son of Col. 
John Waldron's fourth wife, wrote a humorous poem, being the plea 
of the old house for a "new coat," published in a local paper. The 
plea resulted in a coat of paint, but the house had become dark again 
before it was abandoned. 

On Sunday, 29 March 1829, was the last public worship held in the 
fourth house. The house had been sold for $175, and on Monday, 
30 March, the steeple was taken down and the work of demolishing 
the house begun. The northern end, about one third, was moved by 
the purchaser, Samuel Woodman, to Court street, and, as I have already 
said, is still owned by his son, Theodore W. Woodman, of this parish. 

Doubtless many saw with tender regret the removal of the old 
house. A few remembered the form and voice of the grave and godly 
Jonathan Cushing, even when he was preaching in the old Pine Hill 
house. More recalled the patriotic sermons which Jeremy Belknap 
preached from its pulpit in the days of the Revolution. There had 
preached Gray and Shearman. But there had ministered the devoted 
Clary, to whose faithful gospel many souls were owing debts of love ; 
and its last days had been suddenly illumined by the burning zeal of 
the fervid Winslow. 

The fifth and present house. — The increased population and changing 
social condition following the occupation of the Cochecho by the great 
manufacturing interests demanded a new house of worship. The old 
was insufficient and distasteful. These circumstances led the parish to 
take the following action, 31 March 1824 : — 

"Voted, That a Committee of the Parish be appointed to report some plan for the 
better accommodation of the Parish in a meeting house, either by an alteration in 
the present house or the erection of a new one, and the probable expense thereof ; 
also the probable number of families who would wish to be accommodated in said 
house beyond the present number, and what number of pews would be taken in such 
new house. 

" Voted, Asa Freeman, Doct. John Wheeler, James Bartlett, John Williams, Andrew 
Peirce, Capt. Robert Rogers, John W. Hayes, be a committee for the above purpose 



72 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

The parish voted, 30 March 1825, to request the clerk to get two 
hundred and fifty copies of the report of this committee printed. 

The report was printed. It considers the need of more accommo- 
dation by reason of increasing population, the cost of enlargement or 
renovation, and makes suggestions as to plans for a new building. 

No immediate action ensued ; but when the Unitarian secession had 
taken place, and had been followed, in 1828, by the erection of a 
house of worship of a style attractive and novel, action became neces- 
sary. The parish accordingly voted, 26 January 1829, to appoint a 
committee of fifteen persons 

"to consult on the expediency of building a New Meeting House, & whether it 
shall be of brick or wood, & the probable expense, & how they shall dispose of the 
old Meeting House, & report at the next Meeting ; and that J. Wheeler, Andrew 
Peirce, Z. Wyman, Francis Drew, George Pendexter, W. Palmer, Jona. Young, 
James Davis, Jacob Kittredge, John Riley, D. M. Christie, Samuel Watson, W. P. 
Drew, Asa Freeman, & Samuel Wyatt be a Committee for the foregoing purposes." 

The committee reported, 16 February 1829, in favor of building a 
new house, " considering the decayed state of the old House " ; to 
build of brick ; the old house to be sold. On the same day the parish 
decided to build : — 

" Voted, That the parish will build a new Meeting House of brick on the lot now 
occupied by the old meeting house, to contain not less than one hundred and sixteen 
pews or slips on the floor. 

" Voted, That the Wardens be authorized and directed to sell & cause to be re- 
moved the old meeting house as soon as the necessary preparations can be made for 
building the new house, and that they pay over to the owners of pews in said old 
House the net proceeds of said sale in proportion to the appraised value of their 
respective pews. 

"Voted, That for the purpose of defraying the expense of building said Meeting 
House, the Wardens of the Parish be authorized to hire, on the credit of the Parish, 
a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars, in such sums & at such times as, they may 
think necessary for that object. 

" Voted, That the Wardens for the time being, together with John Riley, Samuel 
Wyatt, & James Davis, be a Committee for the purpose of building said house, and 
that said Committee be & hereby are fully authorized to make all necessary con- 
tracts for building & completing said house, & to fix and determine on the plan & 
style of finishing the same." 

The decision once made, the work proceeded with energy. The task 
of demolition began 30 March following. Meetings were henceforth 
held in the court-house. On the 30th of June, Mr. Asa A. Tufts 
wrote in his diary, "This day the walls are ready for the roof." "All 
the plastering in the meeting house," 3 November, "finished to-day." 
"The pews and all inside wood-work," 17 December, "will be done 
to-day." On Thursday, 31 December 1829, the new house, the one 
wherein we meet to-day, was dedicated to the worship of God. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 73 

The pastor, Hubbard Winslow, preached the sermon, from the text : 
" Holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, forever." 

The organ was played by Mr. Bruce, of Boston. Twelve hundred 
persons filled the house. 

The following is an exact copy of the programme : — 

ORDER OF SERVICES 

FOR THE 

DEDICATION OF THE MEETING-HOUSE OF THE FIRST 
PARISH IN DOVER, DEC. 31, 1829. 



1. Anthem : 

O sing unto the Lord a new song : 

Let the congregation of the saints praise him. 

2. Invocation. 

3. Reading of the Scriptures. 

4. Anthem : 

Psalm 100. Before Jehovah's awful throne, etc. 

5. Prayer. 

6. Hymn : 

I42d Select Hymn. In sweet exalted strains, etc. 

7. Sermon. 

8. Dedicatory Anthem: 

And will the great eternal GoD 
On earth establish his abode ? 
And will he from his radiant throne 
Avow our temples as his own .■* 

These walls we to thy honor raise, 
Long may they echo to thy praise, 
And thou descending fill the place 
With choicest tokens of thy grace. 

Here let the great Redeemer reign, 
With all the glories of his train, 
Whilst power divine his word attends. 
To conquer foes and cheer his friends. 

Great King of glory come ! 
And with thy favor crown 
This temple as thy dome. 
This people as thy own. Amen. 

9. Dedicatory Prayer. 

10. Psalm : 

117th. From all that dwell below the skies, etc. 

11. Concluding Prayer. 

12. Doxology: 

To God the Father, God the Son, etc. 

13. Benediction. 



74 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

The care of Mr. Asa A. Tufts, entered also in 1833 the following 
statistics, which I copy : — 

"The length of the house to the projection in front is . . 80 feet. 
The length of projection is 6^ " 

Whole length of the house 86;^ " 

" Width of the house, 68 feet ; height of the walls above the underpinning, 30^ 
feet; height of the steeple above the underpinning, 146 feet; height of the steeple 
above the sidewalk, 152 feet; height of the stuccoed ceiling from the broad aisle> 
2oyi feet; height of the same from the floor of the gallery, 19 feet. 

"The number of pews below is 114; pews in the gallery, 30; in all, 144. 310,000 
bricks were used in building the walls. 

" The organ, which is also owned by the parish, was built by William M. Goodrich, 
of East Cambridge, Mass., in 1829, and was placed in the house just before its dedi- 
cation, Mr. Goodrich was the builder of the fine organ in St. Paul's church, in Bos- 
ton. The organ in Dover .... comprises a large choir organ and a swell organ, 
has two ranks of finger keys and one of pedal keys. It has 13 stops (one of which 
contains two ranks of pipes and another three ranks), and 28 wooden and 731 metal 
pipes, and has now [1S33] cost $1,250." ^ 

James Davis, of this parish, was the architect and superintendent of 
construction. The foundation and walls were the work of William 
Palmer. The wood-work up to and including the floor and pews on 
the floor, was taken by George Pendexter. Samuel Drew took the 
wood-work from the floor upwards, including windows, doors, and 
steeple. Albert Pendexter and Joseph Babb built the pulpit, which 
was copied from one in New Haven, Conn., where Mr. Winslow was 
educated. The painting was probably done by Michael Whidden. 

November 30, 1829, John Riley, Asa Freeman, James Davis, Samuel 
Wyatt, Jonathan Young, Samuel Watson, and the wardens, were made 
a committee to appraise the pews in the new house, first ascertaining 
the cost of the house, including the organ. Before making the ap- 
praisal the committee was to reserve one pew as a minister's pew, and 
four on the floor and four in the gallery " for the accommodation of 
strangers, and such other persons as may be unable to provide them- 
selves with seats." The same committee was also authorized to sell 
the pews at auction ; no pews to be sold at less than the appraised 
value. 

"At a meeting in the Vestry of the new meeting house," — the first 
mentioned, 8 February 1830, — the committee to appraise and sell pews 
reported, and the report was accepted. The parish voted its thanks 
" to Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, and William Woodman, the 
Wardens of the Parish, and John Riley, Samuel Wyatt, and James 

* The organ, it is hardly necessary to record, has been twice very materially enlarged. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 



7S 



Davis, associated with them as a committee for building the meeting 
house, for their gratuitous service and successful exertions in building 
and completing said house." 

Well had these men deserved the thanks. 

On the I St day of May 1833, a committee reported the total cost 
of the meeting-house. It was $12,760.00 ; and an interest account on 
money borrowed during the progress of the work amounted further to 
^ii3S4-04- Total expense, $14,114.04. To that date pews had been 
sold to the amount of $12,145.62. Jacob M. Currier had paid $100 
in an exchange of land, and D. & W. Osborne had paid $993.93 for 
the parsonage. These sums amounted to $13,239.55. The deficiency 
was more than made up by a further sale of pews (third sale), 28 Jan- 
uary 1836, $500.00; and (fourth sale), i Januar}' 1838, $552.00. The 
total amount realized by sales of pews was $13,197.62 ; the cost of the 
church (not including interest) was $12,760.00. 

At the first sale of pews, 5 January 1830, seventy-nine pews on the 
floor and eight in the gallery were sold. At a second sale, 17 April 
1832, twenty-three upon the floor and seven in the gallery were sold. 
A third sale, 28 January 1836, disposed of ten new pews in the organ 
gallery, with one more (No. 57) at private sale, 21 March 1836. A 
fourth sale, i January 1838, disposed of three pews upon the floor and 
seven in the gallery. 



It is a matter of interest to many sons to see again the names of the 
men who built this house ; not merely because they built it, but also 
because, in that time of division, the list tells who stood firm for the 
ancient faith. 

The following list will give the names, the number^ of the pew, the 
appraisal of the pew, and the amount of premium paid : — 







Value. 


Premium. 






Value. 


Premium. 


I. 


John Wheeler and 






8. 


Andrew Peirce 


^115 


$I.OO 




James Davis . . 


$80 




9- 


James Richardson 


100 


1. 00 


2. 


Charles Paul and 






10. 


John Wheeler . 


100 


1. 00 




Joseph Morrill . 


100 


$1.00 


II. 


Jacob Kittredge 


IIO 


1. 00 


3- 


Asa A. Tufts . . 


no 


10.00 


12. 


John Tapley . 


125 


1. 00 


4. 


Edward Sise . . 


no 


17.00 


13- 


Jabez Dow . . 


130 


4.00 


5- 


Robert Smith . . 


no 


11.00 


14. 


John Williams . 


130 


15.00 


6. 


John Riley . . . 


"5 


1. 00 


15- 


Thos. E. Sawyer 


"5 


2.00 


7- 


Wm. Woodman . 


115 


1. 00 


16. 


John Riley . . 


105 


1. 00 



1 The numbering of pews commenced at the minister's left hand as he faced the people, ran eight 
pews against the west end, then seventeen pews down the church against the northern wall, up the 
north aisle, down and up the centre aisle {" the broad aisle"), down and up the south aisle, and then 
took the eight pews on the minister's right hand. The elevated figure affixed to the number of any 
pew denotes the number of the specific sale. Those without an elevated figure were disposed of at 
the first sale. 



76 



THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 



17. Stephen Evans 

18. Z. Wyman . . . 
Peter Gushing and 

John Tapley . . 
Joshua Ham . . 
John Riley . . . 
Israel Estes " and 

others "... 



23- 
24. 

25- 
26. 

27.=^ 



' and 



Reserved. 

Reserved. 

Israel Estes 
others " . . . 
28.2 John Riley . . . 
29. 

3°- 

31. Oliver S. Home . 

32. Asa Freeman and 

Asa A. Tufts 

33. Andrew Steele . 

34. Samuel Wyatt . 

35. John H. White 

36. Mrs. Nancy Per 

kins .... 

37. Moses Paul . . 
38.* Mary Reade 
39. Oliver S. Home 
40.2 Daniel M. Christie, 

41 . Andrew Peirce and 

Moses Paul . 

42. John H. Wheeler 

43. Abner Caldwell 

44. John Wheeler . 

45. John Riley . . 

46. Daniel M. Christie 

47. Asa Freeman . 

48. Daniel Libbey . 

49. Eli French . . 

50. Hosea Sawyer . 

51. Abel C. Smith 
52.2 Asa Freeman and 

Asa A. Tufts 
53.2 William Palmer 
54.2 John H, Wheeler 
55.2 John Riley . . 



Value. Premium 

$100 $1.00 

100 I. GO 

100 1. 00 

100 1. 00 

90 less 4.76 

65 /t-JJ 10.15 

60 
50 



60 less 5.15 
65 less 3.39 
80 
90 
100 



100 

105 
105 

"5 

"5 
"5 
115 
no 
105 

100 
no 

130 
140 
140 
140 
140 
140 
140 
135 
125 



115 15.81 

100 14.78 

85 4.46 

75 i^" -11 



I. GO 

LOG 

1 1. GO 

1 1. GO 

12.00 
14.00 
14.00 
12.0G 
26.66 

2.00 
12.00 
20.GG 
22. GO 
2 2. GO 
I9.OG 
19.00 
23-00 
17.00 



56.2 John Wheeler . 

57.3 Peter Cushing . 
58.2 John Riley and 

James Davis 
John Riley . . 
Rufus Flagg . 
61.2 John W. Hayes 
62.2 Peter Cushing . 
Edmund J. Lane 
Wm. Hodgdon 
Joseph Hanson 
Stephen S. Stone 
William Plaisted 
Drew . . 

68. George Pendexter 

69. J\/i7iister''s Few. 

70. Charles Greene 

71. Wm. Woodman 

72. Andrew Peirce 

73. Rebecca S. Foot 



59- 
60. 



63- 
64. 
65. 
66. 
67. 



74- 

75- 
76. 

77- 
78. 

79- 



MichaelWhidden 
John W. Hayes 
Peter Cushing, 2d, 
John J. Hodgdon 
William Palmer 
Philemon Chand 
ler . . . . 

80. * Abigail Wingate 

81. John B. Sargent 

82. Hannah Ham . 

83. Lydia Hayes . 

84. John P. Sargent 
85.^ Jonathan Young 
86.2 Wm. Woodman 
87.2 James Davis 

88.2 John W. HayeS: 
Rufus Flagg, and 
Wm. Woodman, 



Value. Premium. 

$65 $ .83 

55 less i2)-oo 



89. 
90. 
91. 
92. 



Reserved. 



Nathan'l Ham and 

Francis Cogswell, 

93.2 John and John H. 

Wheeler . . . 



55 
65 
75 
85 
100 

115 
125 

135 
140 

140 
140 

140 
140 
130 

no 
100 

105 
no 

"5 
"5 

"5 
"5 
105 
105 
100 

I GO 

90 
80 
60 



less 



.02 

•95 
4.46 
18.15 
15.81 



2 2. GO 
25.GO 

22.00 
22.00 
18.00 



13.00 
I4.GO 
13.00 
I5.GO 
1 7. GO 

5.00 

12.00 
2.00 
I. GO 
1. 00 

less 2.23 
less 5.73 
less 5.15 



6g less 9.37 
50 

50 

60 

65 less 10.15 



* A part of this pew wa?, from the beginning, occupied by George Quint until his death, and after- 
wards by his son. Miss Reade refused to sell, but promised Mr. Quint he should always rent a part of 
the pew ; and her wish was obeyed by her heirs after her decease. Miss Reade was a highly respected 
school teacher. She died 24 January 1846. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 



n 



Value. Premium. 



94.2 Oliver S. Home 
and George Pen- 
dexter .... 

95. David Sargent and 

Jacob Clark . . 

96. John Riley and 

Israel Estes . . 

97. Wm. Woodman . 

98. George Pendexter 

and Wm. Palmer, 

99. Peter Gushing . 

100. Samuel Watson 
loi. Arthur L. Porter 

102. Nathaniel Ham 

103. James Davis . 

Pews* in the gallery : 

1. Reserved. 

2. Reserved. 
3- 

4' 

5.* Moses Paul . . . 

6.* Daniel M. Christie, 
John H. Wheel- 
er, and William 
Woodman . . 

7.2 John H. White . 

8.2 Daniel Hussey 

9. William Pickering 
Drew and Eben- 
ezer Meserve 

10. Israel Estes . . . 

11. William Palmer . 

12. John W. Hayes . 
13.^ Peter Gushing . . 
14.2 James Davis . . 
15.* Moses Paul, Wells 

Waldron, and 
John Wheeler . 



$90 less $5.61 



ICO 

100 

TOO 

105 

"5 

130 
130 
125 



1. 00 
1. 00 
2.00 
4.00 
2.00 

I.OO 



Value. Premium. 



Ul 



45 
45 
45 



45 
45 
45 
45 
45 
45 



45 



less^(i.\% 
less 5.34 



less 
less 



I.OO 

I.OO 



4.49 
703 



104. Wm. P. Wingate . 

105. Rufus Flagg . . 

106. Israel Estes . . . 

107. Andrew Peirce 

108. Joshua Banfield and 

John Cook . . 

109. Moses Hodgdon 

(sold to Charles 
Ham) . . . 
no. Jamae B. Varney 
III. Jonathan Young 
1X2. Jonathan Young 

113. John Dame . . 

114. Resej-ved. 



Value. 

$110 
100 
100 
"5 

"5 



Premium. 

$7.00 

5.00 

S-oo 



• "5 


17.00 


• 115 


18.00 


. IIS 


16.00 


. 115 


16.00 


100 


I.OO 



16. 

17- 
18. 

19. 

20." 



Lurandus Beach . 
Michael W hidden 
and " Alden and 
Morse " . . 
Andrew Peirce . 
Andrew Peirce . 
Andrew Peirce . 
Asa Freeman . 
26.*^ John Riley . . 
27. Jonathan Young 
John Wheeler . 
Edmund J. Lane, 
Asa A. Tufts, and 
John H. Wheeler, 
John J. Hodgdon, 
Samuel Wyatt, 
and Peter Gush- 
ing 



Value. Premium. 



$AS 



21. 



28. 
29. 



45 
45 
45 
45 
45 
45 
45 
45 



45 



45 



less$^.tp 
less 4.49 

I.OO 

3.00 
.27 

I.OO 
I.OO 



In the organ gallery, made by taking in the room first used as vestry, and sold 28 
January 1836, the third sale (no elevated figure need be given) : — 
Value. Premium. 



Robert H. Palmer, 
William Melcher . 
Widow of Andrew 

Steele .... 
James Duxbury . 
Wm. H. Alden and 

Thos. G. Morse, 



SO 

50 
50 

50 



6, 

7- 
8. 

9- 
10. 



Asa A. Tufts . 
Joshua Banfield 
John N. Watson 
John H. Wheeler 
Moses Paul . . 



Value. 

$50 

50 

50 

50 

5° 



Premium. 



* The numbering began at the northeast comer, and took that side of the church ; then began with 
No. x6, at the southeast corner of the church, and ended at the southwest comer. 



7^ THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

Changes have been made in this house, but the important ones are 
so recent that its early appearance is readily recalled. 

The organ was at the eastern end of the house, and behind it, over 
the vestibule, was a " vestry," so called. The pulpit, a very handsome 
mahogany structure, was rather elevated, and its front was supported 
by the two pillars preserved from the old house, A flight of winding stairs 
ascended to the pulpit on either side, and doors shut the minister in. 
Under the pulpit (which projected from its base) was a room for the 
Sunday-school library and the contribution boxes, — and this dark room, 
into which the deacons and librarian used to disappear, was a myste- 
rious place to us when we were boys. Behind the pulpit was a heavily 
draped window, but the building of a barn by Jacob M. Currier very 
close to it forced its being bricked up. 

The walls and ceiling were white, the ceiling being handsomely fin- 
ished in stucco work. The galleries, with front higher than now, and 
supported on pillars now removed, were, as now, but running to the 
rear end of the house. A central broad aisle ran the length of the 
church ; and two side aisles ran next to wall pews. Six tiers of 
straight pews occupied the floor, and at the pulpit end, on either side, a 
cross section of pews faced the pulpit. The pews had mahogany rails, 
and the ends and doors were white, but at first the front and back of 
each pew was left unpainted. The pews were not arranged as now, on 
the arc of a circle, but straight across the house. The steeple was 
painted white. 

The tower clock, the first in Dover, was set going i May 1835. It 
was constructed by Benjamin Morrill, of Boscawen, N. H., and cost, 
with dials and fixtures, about three hundred dollars. The money was 
raised by subscriptions obtained by Mrs. Samuel Wyatt, of the " New 
Hampshire House." 

The changes since made have not altered the proportions or general 
architectural appearance. Comparatively simple in its outlines, it 
was and is a well-proportioned, handsome, and dignified house for the 
worship of God. 

Some changes were made in the interior before the great change of 
1878. On the 23d of December 1834 : — 

" Voted, That the wardens be authorized and directed to remove the front gal- 
lery of the meeting-house, and to prepare a singing gallery in the room now occu- 
pied as a vestry, provided the same shall be done without any expense to the parish. 

" Voted, That Asa A. Tufts be a committee to be added to the wardens to assist 
them in carrying the above vote into effect." 

The change thus made destroyed the partition of the vestry, carried 
the organ back very near the front wall of the church, and made a 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 



79 



number of new pews in the front gallery. Asa A. Tufts, lover of mu- 
sic, had charge of the moving of the organ. 

In the warrant for the annual meeting of 9 March 1846, was an arti- 
cle " to see if the parish will vote to repair the meeting-house." At 
that meeting, Asa Freeman, Moses Paul, and William F. Estes were 
made committee to report what repairs were needed. At an adjourned 
meeting held on the 23d, it was voted to repair the roof, whiten the 
interior of the walls, and purchase lamps for the house. 

On the 29th of March 1852, Moses Paul, John H. Wheeler, and 
Wells Waldron were made a committee to report what repairs were 
necessary. That committee reported 26 April, and the report was 
accepted and ordered to be printed. A tax of twelve hundred dollars 
was laid upon the pews 8 May (to which one hundred and fifty dollars 
were added 15 May) for the roof and exterior, and a tax of five hun- 
dred dollars for internal repairs. Only necessary repairs could be 
taxed to the pews; new improvements must depend upon contributions. 
On the same 8th of May, the same committee was authorized to make 
the repairs. The people, during the progress of the work, worshipped 
in the Unitarian church or the town hall. 

At a meeting held 12 November following, the committee reported 
that the work was done. The cost of the outside repairs was $1,395,60 
($1,430.70 less $45.60 received of town for repair of clock) ; of 
the. interior, including a new partition in the gallery to support the 
steeple, $851.08. New (coal) furnaces had cost $318.31; the altera- 
tions in the pulpit and galleries, and frescoing the walls, cost $328.26. 

Some of us recall the impression made by the changes. Inside, the 
organ had been brought forward again, and the acoustic properties of the 
house wonderfully improved. The galleries had lost nine inches from 
their top. The front and back of pews had been painted. The pulpit 
had lost its wings on either side, its stairs, its pillars,^ and stood upon 
a lower and open platform. Frescoed walls had removed the painful 
white which had dazzled the eyes of worshippers ; and fine carpets, fur- 
nished by the women of the parish, covered the aisles and pulpit floor. 

The first bill for gas, dated 25 June 1859, implies that the first gas- 
fixtures were introduced in the spring of that year. 

So the house continued until the j^ear 1878. Then came great alter- 
ations. I hardly need recall the changes, but records are safe to keep. 
Would that we had the description of the little meeting-house of 1633 ! 

I think that the principal cause of the changes of 1878 was the de- 
sire to be rid of the incubus of pew ownership. Without touching 

1 These pillars, dating back to the year 1758, are still preserved. 



80 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

now upon the impropriety of marking off a piece of a meeting-house 
as private property forever, and still calling the building a " house of 
God," there were other reasons for desiring to break up the system 
of private ownership. Under that system, it was impossible to fur- 
nish accommodations for the persons or families who came from with- 
out the list of owners. The very prosperity of the parish, under its 
attractive minister, chafed against the system which kept pews in pri- 
vate hands, and kept them there not subject to any tax or rental what- 
ever for the support of public worship. 

The need of a change had been felt and discussed for some years. 
The time came for practical results. The remedy, under the law, was 
to appraise the value of all the pews, utterly and entirely remove them, 
and build new. This would require the parish to pay to the pew-own- 
ers, if required, the appraised value of the pews removed. 

The proceedings were taken cautiously and carefully, not because of 
legal difficulties, but from Christian courtesy. Unanimity was, in 
the moral sense, indispensable. Informal meetings were held in the 
chapel, and informal methods were first adopted by the people of the 
parish. Information was obtained of how many owners would favor 
such a change, and how many surrender their pews. 

On the 22d of March 1876, it was — 

Resolved, That James H. Wheeler, Charles H. Sawyer, and John Bracewell be a 
committee to see if the pews in our church can, by lease, gift, or purchase, become 
the property of the parish, to be let for the purpose of meeting church expenses. 

On the 15th of March 1877, the same committee was continued. 

An informal meeting of the members of the parish was held 13 
March 1878. The committee appointed by the parish reported, setting 
forth the difficulties in the system of pew ownership by individuals, and 
approving a change to the system of ownership by the parish. A com- 
mittee was then appointed -^ Oliver Wyatt, Samuel C. Fisher, Edmund 
B. Lane, Benjamin P. Peirce, and Thomas E. Gushing — "to value all 
the pews in the meeting-house," and to lay such estimate before the 
parish at its next annual meeting to be held on the 20th instant. 

At the regular meeting, held 20 March 1878, the committee ap- 
pointed by the parish reported that " all pew owners that can be 
reached have been seen or written to, to see what portion of their 
pews they would give to the First Parish of Dover," and gave the list 
of names and proportion of pew in each case. 

The result was completely satisfactory, and the parish appointed a 
committee, — John Bracewell, Gharles H. Sawyer, James H. Wheeler, 
Levi G. Hill, Thomas J. W. Pray, Benjamin P. Peirce, and Joseph A. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 



8i 



Wiggin, — " to see what sums will be contributed by pew owners or 
others to defray the expense of purchasing the pews and altering the 
meeting-house." The committee appointed at the informal meeting of 
13 March to value the pews also fulfilled their work and laid the 
result before the parish. 

The list of pew owners at that date, March 1878, was recorded as 
follows : — 



I. 


John H. Nute. 


32- 


Mrs. Eliza F. Murphy. 


2. 


Clarissa W. Gushing, i. 


33- 


Estate of Ebenezer Faxon. 




Heirs of Jonathan Kimball, }. 


34. 


Joshua Varney. 


3- 


The parish. 


35- 


Mrs. Rebecca E. W. White. 


4- 


(( 


36. 


Andrew Rollins. 


5- 


" 


37- 


Mrs. Susan M. Paul. 


6. 


Mrs. Isabel R. Haskell. 


38. 


Mary R. Welch. 


7- 


The parish. 


39- 


Oliver S. Home. 


8. 


Mrs. Appia Clark. 


40. 


Heirs of Daniel M. Christie. 


9- 


Mrs. Charlotte Nesmith. 


41. 


Ida C. Allen, \. 


10. 


Mrs. Frances A. Freeman. 




Estate of Jonathan Morrill, i. 


11. 


Charles Hayes. 


42. 


Dr. James H. Wheeler. 


12. 


William R. Tapley, |. 


43- 


Charles Woodman. 




John S. Tapley, \. 


44. 


Dr. James H. Wheeler. 


13- 


Henry Dow. 


45- 


Mrs. Isabel R. Haskell. 


14. 


Jeremiah York. 


46. 


Heirs of Daniel M. Christie. 


15- 


Dr. Albert G. Fenner. 


47- 


Dr. Levi G. Hill. 


16. 


Charles W. Demeritt. 


48. 


The First Church. 


17- 


Henry Y. Hayes, \. 


49. 


Charles H. Sawyer. 




Mary Y. Hayes, \. 


50. 


John Bracewell. 




Eliza W. Hayes, \. 


51- 


Oliver Wyatt. 


18, 


Clarissa W. Cushing. 


52. 


Mrs. Frances A. Freeman. 


19. 


Clarissa W. Cushing, \. 


53- 


Jacob S. Gear. 




William R. Tapley, i. 


54- 


Horace and Richard Kimball 


20. 


Estate of Ephraim Ham, ^ 


55- 


Isaac B. Williams. 




Joshua Ham, \. 


56. 


Mary H. Thompson. 




Mrs. Susan Watson, ^. 


57- 


Clarissa W. Cushing. 




Mrs. Lucy Watson, \. 


58. 


James H. Davis. 




The parish, \. 


59- 


Heirs of Arlo Flagg. 


21. 


Mrs. Isabel R. Haskell. 


60. 


Joseph Winkley, \. 


22. 


Edmund J. Lane. 




John C. Tasker, i. 


23- 


The parish. 


61. 


Augustus Richardson. 


24. 


<( 


62. 


Nathaniel Twombly. 


25. 


« 


63- 


Edmund J. Lane. 


26. 


" 


64. 


Mrs. Elizabeth Home. 


27. 


Mrs. Mary Caswell. 


65- 


Mrs. Caroline Estes. 


28 


The parish. 


66. 


Heirs of Thomas Cushing. 


29 


Anastatia Hampson. 


67. 


Dr. Thomas J. W. Pray. 


30- 


John R. Varney, \. 


68. 


Samuel H. Pendexter. 




Mrs. Samuel Hussey, i. 


69. 


The parish. 


31 


Alfred C. Clark. 


70 


" 



82 



THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 



71. Andrew H. Young. 

72. James H. Moody. 

73. Wells Waldron. 

74. Mrs. Frances G. Whidden. 

75. Augustus T. Coleman. 

76. Thomas Nute. 

77. Joseph D. Guppy. 

78. Ivory Paul. 

79. William L. Chandler. 

80. Charles C. Hardy. 

81. Simon J. Torr. 

82. Joshua M. Ham. 

83. John Herbert Twombly. 

84. Mrs. Mary J. Bickford. 

85. Mrs. Mary E. Felker. 

86. George W. Benn. 

87. James H. Davis. 

88. Dr. Thomas J. W. Pray. 
The parish. 



109. Charles Ham. 
no. John R. Varney. 

111. John Trickey. 

112. Hannah S. Young. 

113. The parish. 



114. 



Dr. Nathaniel Low. 

Dr. James H. Wheeler. 

Oliver S. Home, i. 

Heirs of Daniel M. Christie, \. 

95. Mrs. Emma L. Wendell, f. 
Mrs. Rosaline Clark, 1. 

96. The parish. 

97. Joseph Hayes. 

98. Daniel Pinkham. 

99. John H. Kelley, \. 
Mrs. Lydia Ham, \. 

100. Lydia and Horace P. Watson, 
loi. William S. Stevens. 

102. Henry D. Freeman. 

103. Mrs. Lydia Davis. 

104. Joseph W. Wingate. 

105. Estate of Rufus Flagg. 

106. The parish. 

107. Estate of Andrew Peirce. 

108. Mrs. Esther Cook, i. 
Lucinda A. Cook, \. 
Mrs. Charles W. Thurston, \. 

The total estimated value of the above was ^10,335.00. 

At an adjourned meeting held 3 April, the committee appointed to 
obtain subscriptions for the purchase of pews and refitting the meet- 
ing-house reported. Pew property to the amount of $5,405.05 (new 
valuation) would be contributed, and subscriptions for money payments 
at that date to the additional amount of $2,788.50. 



10. 
II. 
12. 

13- 

14. 

15- 
16. 

17- 
18. 
19. 
20. 
21. 
22. 

23- 

24. 

25- 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30- 



In the gallery. 
The parish. 

Mrs. Isabel R. Haskell. 

The parish. 
Mrs. Susan M. Paul. 
Heirs of Daniel M. Christie, i. 
Charles C. Coleman, i. 
John H. White. 
Daniel Hussey. 
Gerrish P. Drew, Sarah A. Drew, 

and Harrison Drew. 

The parish. 
Charlotte M. Palmer. 

The parish, 
Alonzo H. Quint. 
Mrs. Lydia Davis. 

The parish. 



Mehitable E. Twombly. 

Mary E. Wyatt. 

Charles E. Bacon. 

Benjamin P. Peirce. 

Mrs. Elizabeth J. B. Knox. 

Mrs. Abby A. Pike. 

Frank Varney. 

Mrs. Lydia B. Cate. 

Eben F. Faxon. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Home. 

Clarissa W. Cushing. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. gj 

It was thereupon resolved that John Bracewell, Charles H. Sawyer, 
James H. Wheeler, Levi G. Hill, Thomas J. W. Pray, Benjamin Parker 
Peirce, and Joseph Alonzo Wiggin be committee with full powers to 
purchase the pews not given, "collecting and disbursing the money 
that is given, disposing of the old pews, and contracting for new pews, 
and who shall have the entire supervision of the arrangement of pews 
and alterations as in their judgment they shall deem best." The war- 
dens were authorized to hire such sums of money as might be neces- 
sary to pay for the alterations. 

The committee to make the alterations made a careful] report, their 
work being completed 12 March 1879. 

The completed work showed expenditures to be : — 

Cash paid to owners for pews $3,765.08 

" " for repairs and changes 12,611.41 

$16,376.49 
Add appraised value of pews given 6,569.16 

Total $22,945.65 

On the other hand, was the value of pews given, and a cash sub- 
scription of $3,461.17. 

It were needless to specify the changes which transformed our house 
into the church of beauty which meets your eyes to-day. Were I to 
indulge myself, it would be rather to suggest the contrast between the 
rude house of 1633 and this lavish temple of God : their walls of log, 
and ours adorned with the skill of the artist ; their exclusion of sym- 
bols, and our pictured cross and windows of artistic hues ; their music 
of the voice alone, and our pealing organ ; their hard pine benches, 
and our cushioned pews of costly woods ; their bare, it may have been 
earth, floor, and our carpeted aisles and pews ; and their plain exter- 
nal, and our stately spire pointing to heaven. Yet the prayer and psalm 
and word of doctrine, in the plain log-hut of the fathers and the prayer 
and psalm and word in this more gorgeous house are just the same to 
God and us. 

So many and so great were the changes that this house was re- 
dedicated Thanksgiving evening, 28 November 1878, I give the order 
of services : — 



84 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

Organ Voluntary : 

By Mrs. T. J. W. Pray. 

Anthem: 

" Sing Alleluia Forth." 

Invocation : 

Bv Rbv. Isaac C. White, of Newmarket. 

Scripture Reading: 

By Rev. Granville C. Waterman, of Dover, 

Anthem : 

"Oh, be Joyful." 

Scripture Responsive Reading : 

Led By Rev. Morris W. Princr, of Dover. 
Lesson 39 of the Psalter. 

Sermon: 

By Rev. George B. Spalding, d. d. 

Text : I Timothy iii. 15. " The house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and 
ground of the truth." 

Prayer of Dedication : 

By Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, d. d., of Dover. 

Dedication Hymn. — Himibui-g. 

Written by Carrie A. Spalding. 

To Thee, O Father, wise and great, 
These walls anew we consecrate. 
With grateful hearts for blessings shed, 
Upon the winding paths we tread. 

Thy guiding hand has led the way, 
Thy strong support has been our stay; 
Then let our lips thy mercies tell, 
And loud the^pealing anthem swell. 

Here let the voice of prayer ascend, 
As loving souls in reverence bend ; 
Let words of truth fall on the ear. 
Unstained by pride, unmoved by fear I 

Hallow each scene within these walls. 
Where sunlight gleams, or shadow falls, — 
Baptismal seal, or bridal ring, 
Or angel with the " dark-plumed wing." 

Let consecrating vows of love 
Like incense rise to Thee above. 
And lives of holy, active zeal 
Shew the devotion that we feel. 

And when our voices all are still, 

When other strains these arches fill. 

May we all reach, united bands, 

" The house of God, not made with hands." 

Benediction : 

By Rev. James DeBuchananne, of Dover. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 85 

The choir consisted of : 

Mrs. T. J. W. Pray, Organist. 

Mrs. Hhlkn Everett Varney, Soprano. 

Miss Hannah E. Wyatt, Alto. 

Mr. John B. Whitehead, Tenor. 

Dr. William W. Haybs, Bass and Dirtctor, 

The improvements were great. But the old pews did not disappear 
without some wistful regrets. There were some persons left who re- 
membered the great array in those seats on that winter night when the 
eloquence of Winslow thrilled their souls and the prayer of dedication 
had given to God the work of much self-denial. There were many 
who remembered how they had stood before the old pulpit and made 
their vows unto the Lord ; there were parents who recalled the bap- 
tismal scenes when their children had been offered to Him who laid 
his hands on the children of the East. Not a few had been children, 
and sat with their honored fathers and mothers where they should 
never meet again. Recollection could imagine their forms only in 
their accustomed places. There were widows, too, who had occupied 
the same pews for all the years with the departed when they had gone 
together to the house of God. There are sacred places. Where the 
noble dead have made places sacred by their faith and prayers, the 
places are sacred forever. 

Were I to close my eyes and wait in silence, I should see again, 
with the inspiration of this evening, the old pews and their old occu- 
pants, — the deacons, whom I reverenced in my boyhood, and shall 
never cease to reverence, — Peter Gushing, Andrew Peirce, Edmund 
J. Lane, and Isaac A. Porter, — all gentle in manner and kindly in 
heart, and all immovable in faith and resolute in work. I should see 
the parents who brought my feet to this house back of my memory. 
Fathers and mothers would, similarly, seem here to you. Up the aisle 
now closed would come the ministers. Hubbard Winslow some of 
you would recall, — the last minister here of the fifteen to wear the 
robe and bands. David Root I cannot recall, as his sturdy step ad- 
vances ; but Young, Barrows, Parsons, Richardson, Walker, — the 
living and the dead alike, are in our mind's vision, — and Spalding is 
alone in this house to-night of all the men of the many years. 

In the recent improvements made in this house, a large expense, we 
have seen, was incurred, most of which was left as a temporary debt. 
While the parish was abundantly able to bear it, it was felt to be an 
unpleasant encumbrance. Accordingly, at the annual meeting, held 
II March 1880, a committee was appointed to take into consideration 
the payment of the debt incurred by the alterations made in the meet- 
7 



86 



THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 



ing-house, John Bracewell "having offered," says the record, "to pay- 
one tenth." The committee consisted of Charles H. Sawyer, John 
Bracewell, Levi G. Hill, William S. Stevens, Thomas J. W. Pray, James 
H. Wheeler, and Elisha R. Brown. At the next annual meeting, 17 
March 18S1, that committee reported. It stated that the debt of the 
preceding meeting was $12,100, but had been speedily reduced to 
$11,500. This debt had been entirely removed. 
I can do no better than to quote from the report : — 

"Col. John Bracewell, after the services were concluded, Feb. 6, 1881, came for- 
ward and announced his intention of moving to another and distant part of New Eng- 
land, where he was to engage in business. In an earnest address he appealed to the 
society to pay off the debt, and generously renewed his offer to pay one tenth, if the 
whole amount was raised at once. The time had come and the society was ready. 
Your committee organized for work, and in four days the whole amount of the debt 
was subscribed for, and within a week the additional sum of $3,229.50 was raised. 
. . . Your committee found their task to be an easy and a pleasant one." 

In reference to the advantages gained by the release of pews from 
private ownership, and their annual renting, the committee well 
added : — 

" With a church owned by a comparatively few individuals, whose interest, in 
many cases, was not identified with it ; a feeling of irresponsibility on the part of 
many; the revenue falling short of the current expenses, and a consequent annual 
deficit with difficulty provided for; and a building out of repair, — in the short space 
of two years you have got possession of and own the church property; you have 
beautified and adorned the church edifice ; you have by the annual sale of pews 
raised a revenue of nearly six thousand dollars per annum, every dollar of which has 
thus far been paid into the treasury ; the church is filled, and general satisfaction 
and harmony prevail ; all of which seem to bespeak the future welfare and prosper- 
ity of this old parish." 

In securing this needed result, it should not be forgotten that the 
indispensable impulse to a practical effort was made by Rev. Dr. 
Spalding, the pastor, in a sermon preached 10 March 1878, from 
2 Chronicles vi. 10, " For I am risen up in the room of David my 
father, and am set on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised, 
and have built the house for the name of the Lord God of Israel." 
The subject was : Each generation has its own special burdens and 
duties, and by so much as it has inherited advantages and blessings 
from those who have gone before it, so it is bound by every prompting 
of gratitude, by every feeling of honor, by every impulse of that pro- 
gressive spirit that has been in the past, to transmit these blessings in 
even fuller measure to those who came after. 

Dr. Spalding preached also upon paying the debt. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 8/ 

The Chapels'^ of the Parish. — While there are records of church- 
meetings, apparently for lectures, in the days of Jeremy Belknap, the 
probability is that they were held in the meeting-house. Mr. Clary 
held prayer-meetings as early as the year 1814, in the house ^ of Deacon 
Benjamin Peirce. The first public place known as being used for such 
meetings was the school-room over the store of Dr. John Wheeler, still 
standing,^ Mr. Clary officiating. 

But, in March 1825, John Wheeler, agent for No. i school district, 
advertised that the school-house of that district (which was built in 
1790, and which stood where the present brick house stands, at Pine 
Hill) would be sold at auction on Thursday, 17 March. At the sale it 
was bought for the use of the First Parish, and was moved, under the 
oversight of Asa A. Tufts, to a spot on the land of Asa Freeman and 
Philemon Chandler, in the rear of their buildings on Silver street. 
Asa Freeman then resided in what is still known as the " Freeman 
House." The building was speedily fitted ujo for religious purposes. 
An advertisement called a meeting of the " subscribers to the consti- 
tution of the Missionary Society of Dover, auxiliary to the New Hamp- 
shire Missionary Society," to meet "at the vestry" 16 August 1825. 
Here the conference meetings were held. The house was so used 
until the parish, when it built the present meeting-house, made a vestry 
over its vestibule. 

But when the parish, 23 December, 1834, determined to destroy the 
vestry in the meeting-house by moving the organ backward, it was 
forced to return to the little old vestry on Silver street. Apparently 
the people began its use with the new year. There they remained un- 
til late in the year 1839 c>r early in 1840. A parish business meeting 
was held in the old vestry 20 October 1839 ; the next was held 28 
March 1840, in the lower story of the " Belknap school-house," a 
building which stood upon the south side of Church street, and which 
now protrudes its hideous pillars into the sidewalk of Third street, to 
which spot the building was eventually removed. 

Meetings were held in that Belknap house * until " Banfield's vestry " 
came into existence ; possibly a year and three quarters. 

1 For many facts in this section, I am indebted to the investigations of Benjamin Titcomb White- 
house, of Dover. 

' The house is an ancient house on Silver street, now owned and occupied by William B. Nason. 

* The store is now occupied by George E. Varney. 

* The Belknap school-house was private property, and for a private school, in which James F. 
Curtis, Moses Paul, and others were interested. It was erected in 1S33 or 1834, being completed in 1834. 
An advertisement announced that the " first term of the Belknap school " would commence 8 May 
1834, with "Thomas Lane in the male department and Miss Brockway in the young ladies' depart- 
ment." The lower story was the one used as " vestry." 



OQ THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

A few reminiscences of that black, weather-beaten building on Sil- 
ver street, with its hard, unpainted, uncomfortable benches, yet remain. 
Some maternal meetings were held there, and singing schools ; and, 
not long before its disuse, some Saturday-afternoon meetings for recit- 
ing the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. The latter was not an attract- 
ive exercise. 

That old Silver street chapel or " vestry " had a peculiar fate. First, 
it was in the spring of 1840 moved entirely over upon the lot of Asa A. 
Freeman, because Philemon Chandler was about to enlarge his store and 
required the land. In the summer of that year it was loaned by Asa A. 
Freeman to the " Harrison Association " for political campaign pur- 
poses, and was moved by that association to the Coffin land where now 
the City Hall stands, it being placed just where the probate office now 
is. Samuel Drew did the work, and his bill for " moving and fitting up 
the old vestry," rendered 28 August 1840, was $61.03. The great 
Tippecanoe campaign ended, and Mr. Freeman sold the building (to 
be removed) in the spring of 1841 for $60, to David L. Drew. Mr. 
Drew sold it shortly after for $75, to William Laskey, who moved it to 
the north side of St. Thomas street, and placed it on a lot exactly opjoo- 
site to the one now occupied by the estate of Horace Littlefield, jr. It 
stood until the summer of i860, when it was taken down, a few of its 
timbers becoming part of a building belonging to Lewis B. Laskey, 
back of his dwelling-house ; and a dwelling-house now occupies its 
site. 

In the year 1840 or 1841, while the Belknap house was in use, meet- 
ings were also held in a more northerly place ; first, on Central street, 
in an upper room in the brick block,^ of which the Dover bank section 
is now a part, and later in the block next north of Waldron street. The 
first-named place was, I think, over the present bank room. The lat- 
ter-named place is the room where the veteran soldiers meet, in the 
Post of the " Grand Army of the Republic." The diary of Joshua Ban- 
field says, 6 January 1841 : " In the evening attended the prayer- 
meeting at the lower vestry, in Central street. This meeting has not 
been started but a short time. It was arranged for the purpose of 
accommodating those of our parish who live on the north side of the 
river, who cannot attend our other vestry meetings." 

Both meetings, that on Central street and that at the Belknap school- 
house, became one in Banfield's vestry on its completion. 

Then succeeded " Banfield's vestry." It still stands on the east 

' This block, including the five stores from Waldron street, was built in 1S26 by James White- 
house, who owned the store now occupied by Samuel Meserve. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 89 

side of Central street, just at the head of Williams street, a tenement 
house. He built it on the " Hubbard lot." He contracted, 13 May 
1841, with Mr. Locke, of Barrington, for a frame thirty by forty feet. 
The frame was raised 21 July 1841. It was rented for certain evenings 
to the First Parish, i October 1841, for $50 per year; and the first 
meeting was held there on that Friday evening. 

" Our pastor's discourse on this occasion," writes Mr. Banfield, 
"was taken from Matthew xviii, 20 : "For where two or three are 
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Jere- 
miah S. Young was then the pastor, A Sunday-evening prayer-meet- 
ing was held there two days after, with a large attendance. 

Nineteen years passed away in that " vestry." The parish had no 
exclusive rights there, and it was often rented for temperance meetings, 
for debating societies, for political caucuses. The room was not 
attractive ; its ceiling was low ; its seats were rude and hard ; its walls 
grew dingy. But not a few, none the less enjoying the tasteful and 
commodious chapel of to-day, remember when a beauty from heaven 
illumined Banfield's vestry. 

Still, a new house, and to be owned by the parish, was imperatively 
needed. And, 24 March i860, it voted, " That the Parish will purchase 
a lot of land and build a vestry on the same." 

Joseph W. Welch, Joseph Mann, Joshua Banfield, John R. Varney, 
Silas Moody, Edmund J. Lane, and Richard N. Ross were made a 
committee to procure plans and estimates. 

The following persons had " signed an obligation to aid in building 
a vestry," viz.: Edmund J. Lane, Richard Kimball, Oliver Wyatt, John 
H. Wheeler, Joseph W. Welch, William Woodman, Peter Gushing, jr., 
Robert H. Gushing, Amos D. White, 2d, William Home, John P. 
Mellen, Levi G. Hill, Asa Freeman, James M. Home, John R. Varney, 
Wells Waldron, George Quint, Gharles W. Rollins, John B. Sargent, 
Silas Moody, James H. Wheeler, Thomas J. W. Pray, William Palmer, 
Joseph Mann, Alphonso Bickford, Nathaniel Low, Andrew H. Young, 
W. L. Thompson, Thomas H. Gushing, Nathaniel Twombly, William 
F. Estes, Thomas Tash, John L. Platts, Moses Paul, Andrew Peirce, 
and John Mack ; and these persons were made a committee to pur- 
chase land and build a vestry or chapel. 

The chapel was quickly erected. Everett Hall built the stone foun- 
dation, — James Whitehouse (now living) and John Drew assisting in 
the brick underpinning, which was done 7 May to 17 May. The wood- 
work was built by " Ghesley Brothers " of Durham. 

When the final report of cost was made, it appeared that the total 
amount was $4,323.06; of which sum the land cost jf 1,000. 



90 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

The house was dedicated Sunday evening, 2 December 1860.^ A 
church record of that date says : — 

"The new chapel recently erected by the First Parish in Dover for the use of the 
church, upon the lot of land formerly owned and occupied as a garden by Mr. Na- 
thaniel Young, on Central street, was dedicated with appropriate services. The 
Rev. Mr. Richardson being confined to his bed by a typhoid fever, the Rev. A. H. 
Quint took charge of the meeting. Deacon Andrew Peirce, Deacon Joshua Banfield, 
and Asa Freeman made remarks, and Rev. Mr. Quint addressed the people." 

The following hymn, written for the occasion by Miss Charlotte M. 
Palmer, of this parish, was sung : — 

With joy, in Thy blest name we come, 

O Lord, to dedicate to Thee 
This house, our spiritual home. 

Our social altar here to be. 

Within these sacred walls do Thou 

Thy blessed influence make appear, 
Both when we at Thy footstool bow 

And when we sing Thy praises here. 

Here may the sinner find the way 

That leads him to the Saviour's fold ; 
And here may saints delight to stay 

To hear Thy love and mercy told. 

From hence, O Lord, this sacred place 

Shall be a holy shrine to Thee ; 
Accept our vows ; bestow Thy grace ; 

Thine shall the praise and glory be. 

It is in place here to record the date when the Sabbath school was 
commenced. I wish I could give its history, but not even a list of 
superintendents, I fear, is obtainable. But the date of its origin is 
safe, A notice of its intended opening was published, and is worth 
copying : — 

"sabbath school. 

" Parents and guardians of children are respectfully informed that the school will 
commence at the Court House on Sabbath morning, Aug. 16, 181S, at 9 o'clock, at 
which time and place they are requested to send such of their children as are capa- 
ble of reading in a class. The books to be used will be the Bible or Testament, 
Psalms and Hymns, Catechism, etc. 

[Signed by] Joseph W. Clary, John W. Hayes, Amos White, Andrew Peirce, 
William Woodman, Committee." 



1 An excellent vote was passed by the parish, 4 April 1S71 : — 

" Voted, That the wardens be instructed not to allow the chapel to be used except for parish pur- 
poses." 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. QI 

The following notice was also published : — 

"sabbath school. 

" Those persons and guardians who are desirous that their children should attend 
the Sabbath school, and who are not able to furnish them with suitable clothing, are 
requested to send them to the chamber over Dr. Wheeler's store, on Thursday after- 
noon at 3 o'clock, dressed in the best clothes they may have, when they will be met 
by ladies connected with the school, who will take immediate measures to furnish 
them with what additional clothing may be found necessary. 

" Any lady who may have any article that may be useful for clothing for these chil- 
dren will confer a favor by sending it to Dr. Wheeler's house by noon, Aug. 20, 1818." 

The school commenced at the date announced. Its last session for 
the year was on the first day of November. The "average no. of 
scholars" had been "about no." The lessons had been in "the 
Scriptures, Hymns, and Watts' Catechism." Number of verses of 
Scripture committed to memory and recited, 9,934 ; of verses of 
hymns, 6,029; answers in the catechism, 5,366. In addition, "many 
of the scholars recited the whole of the Assembly's Catechism." The 
school had two sessions a day, opening at nine o'clock in the morning, 
and immediately after public worship in the afternoon. Such was the 
Sunday school in its beginning. 

When it recommenced, on the first Sunday of May, 18 19, it met in 
" Rev. Mr. Clary's meeting-house." 

IV. The Ministers of the First Parish. 

An exhaustive account of the ministers of this parish would include 
much history of the church which is not now pertinent ; at least it 
would involve a mingled history of church and parish. The church's 
commemoration of its own two hundred and fiftieth anniversary five 
years hence will then furnish to some person the appropriate time and 
theme. But even now it is well to put upon this record the names 
and dates of service of the ministers. Some general facts may also be 
noticed. 

One fact is, that this parish has always enjoyed settled pastorates, 
rather than the service of " acting pastors," or " stated supplies." In 
no instance has it departed from this congregational principle and 
method. 

Another fact is, that the ministers of that parish have been, with but 
a single exception, men of liberal education, — " college bred " was the 
old term. You and your forefathers have alike desired for your pulpit 
men of learning ; men trained in the culture of scholars ; men able to 
keep pace with the progress of tliought, whether adopting or rejecting 



92 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

new things. It is noticeable that the first six ministers here were grad- 
uates at the University of Cambridge, England, some of the six being 
from that nursery of the evangelical faith, Emmanuel College, which 
will celebrate its tercentenary next j^ear ; and a minister of Oyster 
River was from Oxford. The second six ministers were all graduates 
of Harvard College, in the American Cambridge. It was not until the 
parish was more than two hundred years old that it called one pastor 
not a graduate of a college ; but that one had added to a classical 
training all the study and culture of a theological school of the highest 
rank. 

Nor is it without interest that our first six ministers were each or- 
dained by some bishop of the Church of England, and had been in the 
service of the ministry in that church and that land. 

One would love to dwell in thought upon the line of godly men ; 
from the saintly Leverich, who, with tbe culture of the university, united 
a zeal which led him to this then wilderness, and later to consecrate 
his gifts to missionary service among the Indians, — to the latest one, 
who has but just gone from your pulpit and your homes. But I cannot 
indulge such thoughts now. I will content myself with formal 
record. 

William Leverich,' a native of England, graduated at Emmanuel 
College, Cambridge, England, in 1625, a. m. 1629. He was ordained 
in England, but I have not yet found the date or place. " An able 
and worthy puritan minister," he came here in 1633, as already de- 
scribed. His support, tradition says, proved inadequate ; and in 
1635 he removed to Boston, where he was received member of the 
First Church, 9 May 1635. He was at Duxbury a short time, and then 
went to Sandwich, where he is shown to be in 1637 by a petition 
signed by him with others. At Sandwich he interested himself in work 
among the Indians, and learned their language. For some years he 
was employed to teach the Indians by the commissioners of the United 
Colonies. He was in Sandwich until 1652. In 1653 he was at Oyster 
Bay, Long Island, in the employ of a missionary society. In the year 
1653, Assiapum, alias Moheness, conveyed to Peter Wright, Samuel 
Mayo, William Leverich, and others, a large tract of land at Oyster 
Bay for £a, sterling and various supplies. In 1654 he removed his 
goods by boat from Sandwich to Oyster Bay. In 1658 he settled in 
the near town of Huntington, but retained his interest in the Indians. 
There he remained until 1669 or 1670, when he removed to Newtown, 

1 I spell his name as it was recorded on the books of Emmanuel College, and as given in the 
official records of Massachusetts. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 93 

L. I., where died 19 June 1677. He left two sons ; Eleazer, who died 
without issue, and Caleb. Cornelius A. Leveridge, scientist and 
author, now living at Cranford, Union co., N, J., is a descendant. 

George Burdett, second minister, a native of England, graduated 
at Sidney-Sussex College, Cambridge, about 1620. "Being a priest 
in holy orders, he had, from 1626 to Feb. 1633-4, exercised preaching 
in Brightwell, Saffron-Walden [co. Essex], and Havering [co. Essex]." 
He became " lecturer " in the Established Church at Great Yarmouth, 
CO. Norfolk, at a salary of ^100 per year, for perhaps two years. In 
1634, Feb. 18, he was arraigned in the High Commission Court, 
upon charges of " schism, blasphemj^ and raising new doctrines in his 
sermons as lecturer." The specifications imply some degree of puri- 
tanism. He was suspended, and on or about April 1635 he left Yar- 
mouth and came to America ; was admitted member of the church in 
Salem, Mass., and preached for nearly two years, with great accept- 
ance. He was made freeman there 2 September 1635. He came to 
Dover, apparently in 1637, ^"<^ became minister here. The same year, 
by vote of a " combination " for government, he was chosen governor. 
He was a man of attractive address and abilities, but, his correspond- 
ence with Archbishop Laud (beginning in 1635) ^ and some grave 
misconduct, being discovered, he hastily removed to Agamenticus, 
where also he became governor. The coming of Thomas Gorges 
in 1640 removed him from power. In February 1641 he was at 
Pemaquid ; but in that spring he returned to England. He there 
joined the royalist forces in the civil war, was taken by the parlia- 
mentarians, and put in prison. This is the last known of him. 

Hanserd Knollys, third minister, was born in Cawkwell, Lincoln- 
shire, England, in 1598, and graduated at Emmanuel^ College, Cam- 
bridge. He then was chosen master of the free school at Gainsbor- 
ough, Lincolnshire. He was ordained by the bishop of Peterborough 
as deacon 29 June 1629, and presbyter the day following. The bishop 
of Lincoln presented him with the vicarage of Humberstone, where he 
was unwearied in labors. He held the living " two or three years," when 
he resigned it because he had become scrupulous of " the lawfulness of 
using the surplice, the cross in baptism, and the admission of persons 
of profane character to the Lord's Supper." For two or three years 
longer he preached in various churches, by the bishop's good-nature. 
But about the year 1636 he openly espoused puritanism. He suffered 

1 Two of his letters to Laud, dated respectively December 1635, and 29 November 1638, are pre- 
serv3d in the Public Record Office in London, of which I have certified copies. 

" So say some authorities. But Mr. F. B. Dexter places him at Catherine Hall College, without 
graduation. 



94 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

from imprisonment and other harassings, and in 1638 he left England, 
leaving Gravesend, with "six brass farthings," 26 April 1638, in Capt. 
Goodlad's ship, and arriving at Boston about the 20th of July. The 
Massachusetts ministers thought him affected with antinomianism. He 
worked " daily with my hoe " for several weeks. Then, two persons 
from this town happening to be in Boston, invited him to come hither. 
He came, but Burdett forbade him to preach. On that ruler's removal, 
he became pastor, and in December 1638 organized the First Church. 
He had some troubles with Massachusetts, but the two became recon- 
ciled. Thomas Larkham came here in 1640, and became an associate ; 
but differences between them resulted in Mr. Knollys's withdrawal in 
1 641. Rev. Hugh Peter, then visiting Dover, wrote by him to Governor 
Winthrop, recommending the bearer, and saying, " Hee may [be] useful 
without doubte, hee is well gifted, you may do well to heare him at 
Boston " ; and advised that Mr. Knollys " and three or four more of 
his friends may haue the liberty of sitting downe in our Jurisdiction." 
This recommendation, from Governor Winthrop's own relative by mar- 
riage, answers all intimations that he left Dover suddenly and in dis- 
grace. At first he proposed to go, with others, to Long Island, but, on 
the solicitation of his aged father, returned to England, reaching Lon- 
don, 24 December 1641. 

Mr. Knollys, in England, was known as a most godly man. He 
became a Baptist ; was stoned, fined, and imprisoned ; was now a success- 
ful teacher, and then pastor of a congregation of a thousand persons ; 
was a chaplain in the army and a fugitive on the Continent ; a great 
leader of his denomination, and hated by his adversaries. He died 
pastor of the church at Broken Wharf, Thames street, London. He 
had lost his wife and only son. He died "in a transport of joy," 19 
September 1691, ninety-three years of age. The First Church here 
may well be proud of the memory of its earthly founder, whose body 
was laid in Bunhill Fields. 

Mr. Knollys was a learned scholar, and published^ twelve works, 
one of which was a Latin, Greek, and Hebrew grammar ; but the chief 
to us is his autobiography. The Baptists in England in 1845 organ- 
ized a publication society known as the " Hanserd Knollys Society." 
Copies of his original portrait are in this city. 

Thomas Larkham, fourth minister, was born in Lyme, Dorsetshire, 
England, 4 May 1601 ; graduated b. a. and m. a. at Trinity Hall, 
Cambridge. He was settled first at Northam, near Barnstaple, Eng- 
land, but was so worried by vexatious prosecutions that he came to 
America. " Not favoring the discipline " in Massachusetts, he came 

* See Brook's Puritans. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 95 

to Dover in 1640. Attractive as a preacher, he soon became colleague 
with Mr. Knollys ; but their differences in doctrine, worship, and disci- 
pline became troublesome. Mr. Larkham plainly favored some of the 
methods of the Church of England. Mr. Knollys departing early in 
164.1, Mr. Larkham remained pastor until, at least, late in 1642. 

He then returned to England, apparently in 1642, and was settled 
in the ministry at Tavistock, Devonshire. His biographer states that 
the Earl of Bedford, who had the right of presentation, offered to give 
it to such person as the people might select, and that Mr. Larkham 
was thus selected. Here he bore an excellent character. " A Man of 
great Piety and Sincerity," Calamy calls him. He was ejected under 
the Act of Conformity, 1662, and thenceforth suffered great trouble 
from persecutions. He died in i66g, at Tavistock, in the house of 
a son-in-law, where he was concealed through fear of arrest. His 
biographer says that the malice of his enemies would have prevented 
his burial in the parish church, but that the steward of the Earl of 
Bedford interfered and had him interred " in that part of the chancel 
belonging to that noble family." His son, Rev. George Larkham, 
who graduated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and who was also 
ejected in 1662, died at Cockermouth, 26 December 1700, aged seventy- 
one years, leaving a numerous family. 

Mr. Larkham published three works : i. A Discourse^ of the Attri- 
butes of God, in sundry Sermons. 2. The Wedding Supper. 3. A 
Discourse of paying of Tythes. 

Daniel Maud, fifth minister, born about 1585; was graduated at 
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, England, in 1606. " A good Man," 
says Hubbard, " and of a serious spirit, and a quiet and peaceable dis- 
position "; had been a minister in England, arrived at Boston in 1635, 
was admitted freeman 25 May 1636, and officiated as schoolmaster 
of the Boston Latin School for some years. He came to Dover early in 
1643, being recommended by the ministers in answer to the request of 
the people of Dover. He died in 1655, his will being dated 17, 
II mo., 1654, — that is, 17 February 1655, — and proved 26 June 1655. 

John Revmer, sixth minister, born in Gildersome, parish of Batly, co. 
York, England, in 1600 ; was graduated at Magdalen College, Cam- 
bridge, in 1625, was ordained in England, came to America in or near 
1635, settled in Plymouth, Mass., in 1636, left that place in November 
1654, passed the winter in Boston, and settled in Dover in 1655. Fitch^ 

1 Of this work, a small quarto of five hundred and twenty pages, published in 1656, a learned work 
with a Latin preface, I have a copy. 

2 Fitch's Manuscript. Rev. Jabez Fitch, of Portsmouth, N. H., prepared some historical notes on 
New Hampshire, and the manuscript is in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 
Mr. Fitch, H. C. 1694, was pastor at Portsmouth firom 1735 until his death, 22 November 1746. 



96 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

says : " He is said to have been a very worthy Divine, for learning and 
other ministerial accomplishments." The record of the First Church 
in Plymouth says : " He was a man of meek and humble spirit, sound 
in truth, and every way irreproachable in his Life and Conversation. 
He was richly accomplished with such Gifts and Graces as were befit- 
ting his place and calling, being wise, faithful, grave, sober, a Lover of 
good men, not greedy of the matters of the world, armed with much 
Faith, Prudence, and Meekness, mixed with much Courage in the 
Cause of God ; was an able, faithful, and laborious Preacher of the 
Gospel, and a wise orderer of the affairs of the Church, and had an 
excellent Talent in training of Children in a catechetical way in the 
Grounds of the Christian Religion." 

During the last few years of his life he was assisted by his son and 
successor, John Reyner, jr. He died 20 April 1669, aged sixty-nine. 
His will was dated 19 April and proved 30 June, his widow Frances 
being executrix. He owned and bequeathed an estate in his native 
parish of Batly, Yorkshire, England. 

John Reyner, jr., seventh minister, son of his predecessor, John 
Reyner, by wife Frances (Clarke), was born, probably in Plymouth, in 
1643 ; was graduated at Harvard College in 1663, and became assist- 
ant to his father about 1667. Upon his father's death he was invited, 
22 July 1669, to officiate for one year; he accepted, and evidently 
continued until his death; although not regularly settled until 12 
July 1 67 1. He died, apparently in Dover, ^ 21 December 1676, "of a 
cold and fever," says Hull's diary, " that he took in the field among 
the soldiers." " Among the soldiers " doubtless refers to his accom- 
panying the expedition eastward of Captains Syll and Hathorne, who 
reached Dover, with Massachusetts forces, 6 September 1676, and who 
participated in the momentous " sham fight " on the next day. The 
expedition then proceeded into Maine. Mr. Reyner's wife was Judith, 
daughter of Edward and Joanna Quincy, of Braintree, Mass., born 25 
June 1655. The young wife soon followed him. She died aged 
twenty-five years only. 

Fitch says of Mr. Reyner, "he possessed a double portion of his 
father's spirit." 



1 Braintree has usually been said to be the place of his death. I do not know the authority ; but 
Hull, ill Boston, a connection by marriagei records, "We heard not that he was sick until Fridayi 
about nine at night, and Sabbath morn comes William Furbur and brings news of death. After last 
exercise [public worship], father dispatches Tim to Braintry." Now (i) William Furbur, who brought 
the news, was a Dover 7iian. (2) If sick at Braintree, they would have heard of his dangerous sickness 
earlier; and of a death occurring Thursday, much earlier than Sunday. (3) Sending a messenger from 
Boston to Braintree implies notifying Mrs. Reyner's father, who came to Boston (says Hull) on Mon- 
day, but concluded, on account of his own condition, to send Furbur back with letters only. The 
i mpression is plain. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 97 

John Pike, eighth minister, son of Robert and Sarah (Sanders) 
Pike, was born in Salisbury, Mass., 13 May 1653 ; was graduated at 
Harvard College in 1675, came to Dover "for the work of the minis- 
try " I November 1678, and was settled 31 August 168 1. He was 
absent some of the time during his settlement here on account of the 
Indian wars, and he was chaplain at Pemaquid Fort, October 1694 to 
July 1695 ; but he died here in the pastorate 10 March 1709-10. 
His wife, Sarah, daughter of Rev. Joshua Moodey, died 24 January 
1702-3. His will was dated 6 March 1709-10. 

Fitch says : " A person of good Learning, pleasant in Conversation, 
and much mortified to the World." Belknap^ says : " He was es- 
teemed as an extraordinary preacher, & a man of true godliness. He 
was a grave and venerable Person, & generally preached without 
notes. Those who were acquainted with him have given him the 
Character of a very considerable Divine, & some of his manuscript 
sermons are yet in being & much esteemed. Mr. Wise, of Berwick, 
used to say that Mr. Pike never preached a sermon but what was 
worthy of the press." 

His very valuable journal, from 1678 to 17 10, is extant, and has been 
printed, with full notes, by the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Nicholas Sever, ninth minister, son of Caleb and Sarah (Inglesby) 
Sever, was born in Roxbury, Mass., 15 April 1680; graduated at Har- 
vard College in 1701, and was ordained at Dover, 11 April 171 1. He 
resigned his charge in the spring of 17 15, on account of an almost total 
loss of voice. From 17 16 to 1728 he was tutor in Harvard College, 
and fellow 1725 to 1728. In 1728 he removed to Kingston, Mass., 
and in 1731 he was appointed judge C. C. P. in Plymouth co., Mass., 
a station for which he proved himself eminently qualified, and which 
he held until 1762. He died 7 April 1764. Mr. Sever owned a tract 
of land in Dover covering the spot where the building once the "Dover 
Hotel" now stands, and he probably lived there. Descendants of Mr. 
Sever are in Massachusetts. 

Jonathan Cushing, tenth minister, son of Peter and Hannah 
(Hawke) Cushing, was born in Hingham, Mass., 20 December 1690; 
Harvard College, 1717; was ordained here 18 September 1717. He 
preached occasionally at the Neck for a few years, but mainly at 
Cochecho, and, after 1720, altogether at the latter place ; lived on Pine 
Hill, where his well remains. He " sustained the character of a grave 
and sound preacher, a kind, peaceable, prudent, and judicious pastor, a 
wise and faithful friend," says his colleague and successor, Jeremy 

1 Manuscript church records. 



98 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

Belknap. In personal appearance, memory, in 1834, said he was "a 
large stout man," and of dignified presence. 

Dr. Belknap's diary says : "March 24, 1769. Watched with Mr. 
Gushing. 25. Mr. Gushing died. 27. Met Selectmen at Mr. Gush- 
ing's about funeral. 30. Funeral. Dr. Langdon preached sermon, Heb. 
7 : 23. April 2. Easter. Preached Mr. Gushing's funeral sermon." 
The sermon had no biographical allusions. Mr. Gushing's tomb is on 
Pine Hill. He left descendants. The late venerated Deacon Peter 
Gushing was one. So was Rev. Jonathan P. Gushing, president of 
Hampden Sidney Gollege, Va. ; and others are of this congregation. 

Jeremy Belknap, d. d., eleventh minister, son of Joseph and Sarah 
(Byles) Belknap, was born in Boston, Mass., 4 June 1744 (O. S.) ; grad- 
uated at Harvard Gollege in 1762 (Doctor of Divinity, H. G. 1792); was 
ordained here 18 February 1767, being colleague with Jonathan Gush- 
ing. Twenty churches were in the council of ordination, of which 
Mr. Gushing, then over seventy-six years of age, was moderator, and 
Dr. Samuel Langdon, of Portsmouth, was scribe. The services by 
which, says a report in a newspaper, he was " ordained to the work of 
the ministry in this place, and the olBce of a pastor of the church 
here," were as follows : Opening prayer, by Rev. Nathaniel Robbins, 
of Milton, Mass. ; sermon, by Rev. Samuel Haven, of Portsmouth, 
from I Timothy iv. 15 ; ordaining prayer, and charge to the pastor, 
by Rev. Mr. Gushing ; right hand of fellowship, by Rev. James Pike, 
of Somersworth ; and closing prayer, by Rev. Samuel Langdon, of 
Portsmouth. 

Mr. Belknap became the pastor on the death of Mr. Gushing, in 
1769. He lived, as already stated, on Silver street. A church, a 
street, and a school-house and school here commemorate his name. 
His care in collecting scattering records of this church and parish 
has given us invaluable results. His service by speech and oratory 
in the war of the Revolution was of great value to the country. He 
wrote here his great work, the "History of New Hampshire," a classic 
in its line ; and he was author, then and later, of numerous other works. 

His connection with this parish terminated 11 September 1786, and 
he was installed pastor of the Federal street Ghurch (afterwards Dr. 
Ghanning's), Boston, 4 April 1787. He died, of paralysis, 20 June 
1798. One of his great services in Boston was the founding of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society, whose library contains his manu- 
scripts, of the greatest historical value.' 

^ Among them are diaries covering much of his Dover life ; to which, with his other papers, I have 
been given kind access by that society. I may recall with pleasure the fact that I was a resident mem- 
ber from 8 July 1858 until the membership legally ended by my removal from the State of Massa- 
chusetts. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 99 

As Dr. Belknap's biography has been pubUshed, it is needless to 
add particulars here. 

Robert Gray, twelfth minister, son of Robert Gray, was born in 
Andover, Mass., 9 October 1761 ; was a soldier of the Revolution ; grad- 
uated at Harvard College in 1786, and was ordained over this church 
28 February 1787. He married, 27 March 1787, Lydia, daughter of 
Peter and Ann (Adams) Tufts, of Charlestown, Mass., who was born 
10 June 1762 ; she was sister of Asa Tufts, father of Asa A. Tufts, 
now of this city. . His connection as pastor ceased 20 May 1805. 
While pastor here, he also was some time teacher at Pine Hill school- 
house. He preached afterwards in the western part of Barrington, 
though he was never again settled, and died in Wolfeborough, N. H., 
25 August 1822. He published a sermon at the ordination of Rev. 
Daniel Stone, at Hallowell, Me., 21 October 1795; a Thanksgiving 
sermon ; and a N. H. Election sermon. 

Caleb Hamilton Shearman,^ thirteenth minister, son of Samuel 
and Betsey (Hitchcock) Shearman, was born in Brimfield, Mass., 19 
November 1779; graduated at Brown University in 1803; was or- 
dained here 6 May 1807. His connection as pastor formally closed 
by council which ordained his successor, 7 May 18 12. He went 
into business here as trader, for a short time, but left Dover about 
18 1 4, and he died in 18 15, somewhere in Virginia, where he was buried. 

He married, 24 December 18 10, Sophia M., daughter of Nathaniel 
(m. d.) and Mary (Mellen) Parker, born 20 January, 1789. After his 
decease, she married, 2d, her cousin Thomas Parker, of Reading, Mass., 
where descendants now live, and where she died 3 December 1845. 

Joseph Ward Clary, fourteenth minister, son of Dr. Isaac Ward 
Clary, was born in Rowe, Mass., 21 November 1786; in early life re- 
moved with the family to Hartford, N. Y. ; graduated at Middlebury Col- 
lege in 1808, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 181 1. He was 
ordained pastor here 7 May 1812. Rev. Joseph Buckminster, d. d., 
of Portsmouth, was scribe of the council ; but he died in the following 
month, and no records could be obtained ; it is known, however, that 
Rev. Leonard Woods, D. d., of Andover, Mass., preached the sermon. 
Mr. Clary was dismissed by mutual council, 6 August 1828, and on 
the 29th of November following was installed pastor at Cornish, N. H. 
He resigned in the autumn of 1834, because of increasing infirmities 
of body, and he died in Cornish, 13 April 1835. He was reinterred 
on Pine Hill, 19 December 1835, by desire of this church, which also 

1 The name is sometimes given Slierman, but I follow his own early use. Nor does the middle 
name appear in the records of Brimfield, nor in the Brown catalogue of early date. 



lOO THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

erected a monument to his memory, " in grateful remembrance," sa5'^s 
the inscription, " of the exemplary piety and faithful ministerial labors." 
"Mr. Clary," said Rev. Jonathan French in his funeral sermon, "was 
a great blessing to Dover, and prepared the way for his successor to 
labor advantageously." " His sermons," wrote Asa A. Tufts, in the 
record, " were ably written ; his piety elevated ; his doctrine sound ; 
his disposition kind and forgiving, and his mind remarkably pure. He 
sowed much good seed in this place, and his memory is cherished with 
great affection by many here." 

Rev, Timothy Farrar Clary, now of Boston, Mass., is his son. 

Hubbard Winslow, d. d., fifteenth minister, son of Nathaniel and 
Anna (Kellogg) Winslow, was born in Williston, Vt., 30 October 1799 ; 
graduated at Yale College in 1825, and Yale Divinity School in 1828. 
He received the degree of D. D. from Hamilton College in 1858. He 
was ordained pastor here 4 December 1828. Fourteen churches were 
on the council. Rev. Benjamin B. Wisner, d. d., of Boston, Mass., was 
moderator, and Rev. Jonathan French, of North Hampton, was scribe. 
The parts of the service were : Invocation, by Rev. Jacob Cummings, 
of Stratham ; sermon, by Dr. Wisner ; ordaining prayer, by Rev. 
Abraham Burnham, of Pembroke ; charge to the pastor, by Rev. 
Israel W. Putnam, of Portsmouth ; right hand of fellowship, by Rev. 
Robert Page, of Durham ; address to the people, by Rev. David 
Sanford, of Newmarket; and concluding prayer, by Rev. Isaac Willey, 
of Rochester. 

In the midst of a promising revival his health failed, and he was 
dismissed 20 November 1831. He was installed pastor of Bowdoin 
street Church, Boston, Mass., 26 September 1832, and dismissed in 
March 1844. In 1854, he accepted the pastorate of the Presbyterian 
church, Geneva, N. Y., and stayed two years, adding nearly two hundred 
members to the church. His health failing, he resigned. While in our 
pulpit, he published " Three Sermons on the Trinity," and an histori- 
cal discourse embracing a history of the First Parish, Dover, from 1633 
to 1 83 1. He was in active service many years, especially in charge of 
seminaries for the liberal education of young ladies. He published 
various works, mainly educational. He died at Williston, Vt., 13 
August 1864. 

David Root, sixteenth minister, was born in Piermont, N. H., 17 
June 1791 ; was graduated at Middlebury College in 1816 ; received his 
theological education principally under the direction of the Rev. Dr. 
Nathan S. S. Beman, late of Troy, N. Y. ; labored as a missionary 
some time in Georgia; was ordained pastor of the Second Presby- 
terian church in Cincinnati, Ohio, 4 September 18 19; resigned his 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. lOI 

charge in 1832, and was installed pastor of this church 6 February 
1833. Sixteen churches were on the council, of which Rev. Josiah 
Webster, of Hampton, was moderator, Rev. John Smith, of Exeter, 
scribe, and Rev. Samuel W. Clark, of Greenland, assistant scribe. 
The invocation and reading of Scriptures were by the moderator; 
prayer, by Rev. Isaac Willey, of Rochester ; sermon, by Rev, Edward 
L. Parker, of Derry ; installing prayer, by Rev. Jonathan French, of 
North Hampton; charge to the pastor, by Rev. John Smith, of Exeter; 
right hand of fellowship, by Rev. George C. Beckwith, of Portland, 
Me. ; and concluding prayer, by Rev. James A. Smith, of Great Falls. 

Mr. Root's pastorate ended 4 September 1839. While here, he 
published seven sermons, one of which was a valuable bicentennial 
discourse in 1838. 

After leaving Dover, Mr. Root was for a few months an anti-slavery 
agent in Massachusetts. He then preached in Philadelphia, Pa., one 
year. He was installed pastor of the First Church in Waterbury, 
Conn., 6 July 1841 ; dismissed in 1844; was installed pastor of the 
Third Congregational Church in Guilford, Conn., i January 1845 ; 
dismissed 6 April 185 1. In 185 1 he relinquished labor, and took up 
his residence in New Haven, Conn. He died in Chicago, 111., 30 
August 1873. A man of great power. 

Jeremiah Smith Young, seventeenth minister, was born in Whites- 
town, N. Y., 10 September 1809 ; in early life was in mechanical work; 
received his theological education at Andover, where he graduated in 
1839 ; was ordained pastor here 20 November 1839. Nine churches 
were on the council, of which Rev. Jonathan French, of North Hamp)- 
ton, was moderator, and Rev. Andrew Rankin, of South Berwick, scribe. 
The invocation and reading of Scriptures were by Rev. Samuel Nichols, 
of Barrington ; prayer by Rev. Francis V. Pike of Rochester ; sermon 
by Rev. Edwin Holt, of Portsmouth ; ordaining prayer by Rev. Jona- 
than French ; charge to the pastor, by Rev. John R. Adams, of Great 
Falls ; address to the people, by Rev. John K. Young, of Meredith 
Bridge ; and concluding prayer by Rev. Alvan Tobey, of Durham. 
His pastorate was successful, but it ended, 4 September 1843, by 
reason of his serious ill-health. He was never again settled, but in 
time engaged in manufacturing. He died in Somerville, Mass., 26 
April 1 86 1. 

Homer Barrows, eighteenth minister, son of Branch and Rebecca 
(Clark) Barrows, was born in Wareham, Mass., 19 December 1806; 
was graduated at Amherst College in 183 1, and at Andover Theological 
Seminary in 1834; was ordained pastor of the Second Church in Mid- 
dleboro, Mass., i June 1836 ; left that place in 1842 ; was stated sup- 



102 . THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

ply at Norton, Mass., for three years, and was installed pastor of this 
church 9 July 1845. Twelve churches were upon the council, of 
which Rev. Jonathan French, of North Hampton, was moderator; 
Rev. Rufus W. Clark, of Portsmouth, scribe; and Rev. Alvan Tobey, 
of Durham, assistant scribe. The reading of the Scriptures was by 
Rev. William J. Newman, of Stratham ; prayer, by Rev. Alvan Tobey ; 
sermon, by Rev. Israel W. Putnam, d. d., of Portsmouth ; installing 
prayer, by Rev. Jonathan French ; charge to the pastor, by Rev. David 
Root, of Guilford, Conn. ; right hand of fellowship, by Rev. Benjamin 
R. Allen, of South Berwick, Me.; and concluding prayer, by Rev. 
Rufus W. Clark. After a useful pastorate, he was dismissed 5 July 
1852. He was installed pastor of the church in Wareham, Mass., 27 
October, 1852, and dismissed in 1859. From 1859 to 1869 he was 
acting pastor at Plaistow, N. H., and the same at Lakeville, Mass., 
1869 to 1872. He then went to Andover, Mass., to reside, and died 
there i April 1881. 

Benjamin Franklin Parsons, nineteenth minister, son of Jotham 
and Olive (Greenleaf) Parsons, was born in Wiscasset, Me., 21 June 
1820; was graduated at Bowdoin College in 1841 ; received his theo- 
logical education at New York and Bangor, graduating at Bangor 
Theological Seminary in 1846. He was ordained as the first minister 
of the Congregational Church at Watertown, Wis., 25 January 1847 ; 
installed as first pastor of the First Church, at Waukegan, 111., i No- 
vember 1848; resigned his charge in October 1852, and was installed 
pastor of this church, 12 January 1853. Twelve churches were on 
the council, with one minister specially invited. Rev. Benjamin R. 
Allen, of South Berwick, was moderator, and Rev. Edward E. Atvvater, 
of Salmon Falls, scribe. The invocation and reading of Scriptures 
were by Rev. John M. Prince, of Georgetown, Mass. ; prayer, by Rev. 
Asa Mann, of Exeter; sermon, by Rev. Swan L. Pomeroy, D. d., of 
Boston, Mass. ; installing prayer, by Rev. Benjamin R. Allen ; right 
hand of fellowship, by Rev. James T. McCollom, of Great Falls ; 
address to the people, by Rev. Alvan Tobey, of Durham ; concluding 
prayer, by Rev. George Spaulding, of Rochester. He was dismissed 
8 July 1856, and on 3 September 1856 became pastor of the Belknap 
Church in this city, from which he was dismissed 24 October 186 1. He 
is still in ministerial service, and from November 1874 to 1877 was 
acting pastor of the church in Woonsocket, R. I.; from 1877 to 1880 
was acting pastor at Webster, Mass. ; his home is in Derry, N. H. 

Elias Huntington Richardson, d. d., twentieth minister, son of 
Daniel and Mary (Huntington) Richardson, was born in Lebanon, 
N. H., II August 1827 ; was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1850 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. IO3 

(d. d. 1876), and at Andover in 1853; was ordained pastor of the 
church in Goffstown, N. H,, 18 May 1854; dismissed 30 October 
1856. He was installed over this church and parish 10 December 
1856. Ten churches were on the council, and one minister by invita- 
tion. Rev. Lyman Whiting, of Portsmouth, was moderator, and Rev. 
Alonzo H. Quint, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., scribe. The invocation 
and reading of Scriptures were by Rev, George N. Anthony, of Great 
Falls; prayer, by Rev. Theodore Wells, of Barrington; sermon, by 
Rev. Austin Phelps, D. d., of Andover, Mass. ; installing prayer, by 
Rev. Alvan Tobey, of Durham ; charge to the pastor, by Rev. Isaac 
Willey, of Goffstown ; right hand of fellowship, by Rev. Alonzo H, 
Quint; address to the peopie, by Rev. Lyman Whiting, of Portsmouth; 
and concluding prayer, by Rev. John Colby, of Hampton. 

He was dismissed 10 December 1863. He was installed over the 
Richmond Street Church in Providence, R. L, 30 December 1863, and 
dismissed 2 April 1867. He was installed, i May 1867, in Westfield, 
Mass., and dismissed 5 March 1872, He was installed over First 
Church, Hartford, Conn., 24 April 1872, and dismissed i January 
1878. On 7 January 1878 he was installed at New Britain, Conn,, 
where he died, greatly lamented, 27 June 1883, of pneumonia, 

Avery Skinner Walker, d, d., twenty-first minister, son of Hiram 
and Cynthia (Skinner) Walker, was born in Union Square, Oswego 
Co., N. Y., 15 October 1829; was graduated at Oberlin College in 
1854, and at Union Theological Seminary in 1857. He was ordained 
by the Third New York Presbytery, 14 June 1857, and was acting 
pastor at Lodi, N. Y., from 1857 to June i860. He was installed pastor 
at Rockville, Conn,, 13 February 1861, dismissed 20 September 1864, 
and was installed over this church 16 November 1864. Ten churches 
were on the council, and one minister by invitation. Rev. Asa D. 
Smith, D. D., president of Dartmouth College, was moderator, and 
Rev. George W. Sargent, of Raymond, scribe. The invocation and 
reading of Scriptures were by Rev. Elias Chapman, of South New- 
market; prayer, by Rev. Ephraim W. Allen, of South Berwick, Me. ; 
sermon, by Rev. Asa D, Smith, d. d. ; installing prayer, by Rev. 
Edward Robie, of Greenland; charge to the pastor, by Rev. George 
M. Adams, of Portsmouth ; right hand of fellowship, by Rev. William 
M. Barbour, of Peabody, Mass. ; address to the people, by Rev. Elias 
H. Richardson, of Providence, R. L ; and closing prayer, by Rev, 
Alvan Tobey, D. d., of Durham. 

He was dismissed 7 September 1868, and was installed, 28 October 
1868, pastor at Fairhaven, Mass., and was dismissed 27 July 187 1, 
He was installed pastor of Presbyterian Church in Gloversville, N. Y.,, 



104 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

on 6 December 1871, and was dismissed 6 October 1877. He was 
installed over the church in Spencer, Mass., 14 November 1877, where 
he now remains. Seventy were added to the church during his minis- 
try, and two others prior to the settlement of his successor. 

George Burley Spalding, d. d., twenty-second minister, son of 
Dr. James and Eliza (Reed) Spalding, was born in Montpelier, Vt., 
Ti August 1835 ; was graduated at the University of Vermont in 1856 
(d. d.. Dart., 1878) ; studied law at Tallahassee, Florida, entered Union 
Theological Seminar}^, New York city, in 1858, remaining two years ; was 
graduated at Andover Theological Seminary in 1861 ; was ordained and 
installed as minister at Vergennes, Vt., 5 October 1861 ; dismissed 
I August 1864; installed over the North (now Park) Church in Hart- 
ford, Conn., 28 September 1864; dismissed 23 March 1869; installed 
here i September 1869. Twelve churches were upon the council, 
and one minister by invitation. Rev. Alvan Tobey, D. D., of Durham, 
was moderator, and Rev. John O. Barrows, of Exeter, was scribe. The 
invocation was by Rev. Charles C. Watson, of Dover ; reading of 
Scriptures, by Rev. Edward Robie, D. D., of Greenland ; sermon, by 
Rev. Edwin P. Parker, d. d., of Hartford, Conn. ; installing prayer, by 
Rev. Alvan Tobey, d. d., of Durham ; charge to the pastor, by Rev. 
Samuel J. Spalding, d. d., of Newburyport ; right hand of fellowship, by 
Rev. Silvanus Hayward, of South Berwick, Me. ; address to the people, 
by Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, d. d., of New Bedford, Mass.; concluding 
prayer, by Rev. John W. Olmstead, d. d., of Boston, Mass. He was 
dismissed 6 February 1883, and was installed pastor of the Franklin 
Street Congregational Church, Manchester, N. H., 14 February 1883. 
He published ten sermons and addresses while in Dover. 

*George Edward Hall, twenty-third minister, son of Rev. Heman B. 
and Sophronia (Brooks) Hall, was born 23 February 185 1, in Jamaica, 
West Indies ; was graduated in 1872 at Oberlin College, and from New 
Haven Theological Seminary in 1875 ; was ordained and installed, 
2 September 1875, pastor of the Congregational Church at Littleton, 
Mass., and was dismissed 28 February 1877 ; was installed, 2 May 
1877, pastor of the Congregational Church at Vergennes, Vt., and was 
dismissed 31 December 1883; was installed, 2 January 1884, over 
this church and parish. Eleven churches were on the council, and 
two ministers by invitation. Rev. Swift Byington, of Exeter, was mod- 
erator, and Rev. George Lewis, of South Berwick, Me., was scribe. 
The invocation was by Rev. Isaac C. White, of Newmarket ; reading 

*The services of this anniversary were prior to the installation of this present pastor, but the print- 
ing not taking place until 1884, his name is inscribed. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. lOS 

of Scriptures, by Rev. George Lewis ; sermon, by Rev. George B. Spal- 
ding, D. D., of Manchester ; installing prayer, by Rev. Edward Robie, 
D. D., of Greenland ; charge to the pastor, by Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, 
D. D., of Dover ; right hand of fellowship, by Rev. William A. McGin- 
ley, of Portsmouth ; address to the people, by Rev. Prof. Edward Y. 
Hincks, of Andover, Mass. 

The following ministers have been sons of this parish : — 

John Reyner, jr., son of Rev. John Reyner; graduated at Har- 
vard in 1663 ; our seventh minister. 

William Waldron, son of Richard Waldron, and grandson of 
Major Richard Walderne ; born in Portsmouth, 4 November 1697, but 
his father soon returned here ; united with this church 30 March 1717 ; 
Harvard, 1717; pastor of "New Brick" Church, Boston, Mass., 22 
May 1722, until his death, 11 September 1727. 

Reuben Nason, son of John Nason, born on Dover Neck ; Harvard, 
1802 ; pastor at Freeport, Me., from 7 February 18 10 (ord.) to 23 
March 1815 ; long time principal of Gorham Academy, Me.; died 15 
January 1835, aged 56, at Clarkson, Monroe Co., N. C, where he had 
gone to establish an academy. 

John Kimball Young, d. d., son of Nathaniel and Betsey (Kimball) 
Young, born in Dover, 22 March 1802 ; Dartmouth College 182 1, 
Andover 1829; ordained 24 September 1829; from 1831 to 1867 
pastor at Laconia ; d. d. at Dartmouth, 1859. He died 28 January 

1875- 

Charles Dame, born in South Berwick, Me., 12 September 1810; 

united with this church 18 July 1830; Bowdoin College 1835 ; Andover 

1838 ; ordained 29 May 1839 ; pastor at Falmouth, Me., 1839 to 1853, 

and later at other places ; now resides at Falmouth, Me. 

Timothy Farrar Clary, son of Rev. Joseph W. and Anna (Farrar) 
Clary, born in Dover, 25 April 1817 ; Dartmouth 1841, Andover 1846 ; 
ordained pastor at Thetford,' Vt., 12 December 1849 ! dismissed in 
1856 ; has had several pastorates, and now resides, without charge, at 
Mattapan, Mass. 

John Colby, born in York, Me., 2 October 182 1 ; united with this 
church 4 July 1841 ; Dartmouth 1852, Andover 1855 ; ordained pastor 
at Hampton 31 October 1855 ; dismissed 18 November 1865 ; since 
pastor at Southboro, Mass., and now at Fitzwilliam, N. H. 

Alonzo Hall Quint, d. d., son of George and Sally W. (Hall) 
Quint, born in Barnstead, N. H., 22 March 1828 ; lived in Dover from 
April of that year ; united with this church 3 March 1850 ; Dart- 
mouth 1846 (d. d. 1866), Andover 1852 ; ordained pastor at Jamaica 



I06 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

Plain, Boston, Mass., 27 December 1853 ; dismissed in 1863; chaplain 
Second Massachusetts Infantry 1861-64; pastor at New Bedford, 
Mass., 1864 until 1875 ; residing in Dover since 1875, ^^^ ^O'^ acting 
pastor (and from February 1881) at Winter Hill, Somerville, Mass. 

Henry Mills Haskell, son of Ezra Haskell, born in Boston, 
Mass., 10 May 1827 ; united with this church 30 April 1843 ; Yale 
College 1849 ; ordained in Boston, 6 March 1855, as pastor of the 
British and American Church in St. Petersburg, Russia ; arrived in 
St. Petersburg, i June 1855, and died there 31 October following. 

Ezra Haskell, jr., son of Ezra Haskell, born in Hopkinton, Mass., 
II April 1835 ; united with this church 2 May 1852 ; Hartford Theo- 
logical Institute 1859; ordained pastor at Canton, Mass., 22 August 
i860 ; is now pastor at Walla Walla, Washington Territory. 

George Washington Sargent, son of John B. and Mercy Sargent, 
born in Dover, 16 February 1833; Dartmouth 1856, Andover 1859; 
ordained pastor at Raymond, 22 December 1859 ; dismissed 16 January 
1865 ; since in various places, and now pastor at Granite Falls, Minn. 

V. Descendants from the Old Stock. 

It may be interesting, and perhaps valuable, to note what persons 
who were members of this parish more than two hundred years ago 
are represented by descendants in the present congregation, either in 
lineal male descent, or where known, through female lines. I will, there- 
fore, record the names of persons actually holding pews or parts of 
pews ; in most cases heads of families. Limiting the list to those who are 
pew-holders in this house omits, of course, many who reside in this city. 

The present pew-holders,i 23 October 1883, with the number of the 
pew,^ are as follows, the maiden surname of married women being 
also given : — 



Miss Laura Beach. 

Mrs. Arabella Wells, m. n.^ Var- 

ney. 
Mrs. Charles Ham, m. n. Bartlett. 
Freeman Hussey. 
Parkman Burley. 
Charles H. Prime. 



6. Nathaniel C. Hobbs. • 

7. Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D. D. 
John B. Stevens, jr. 

8. John Scott. 

9. Joshua Varney. 

10. George W. Benn. 

11. John J. Hanson. 



1 I am greatly indebted to Dr. Charles A. Fairbanks in the preparation of this list ; many names 
being of persons to whom parts of pews were sublet ; and perhaps some names are still left out. 

2 The numbering of pews begins at the southwest corner of the house, fol ows the line of pews along 
the south side, goes up and down the south centre aisle, up and down the north centre aisle, and up the 
north line of pews to the northwest corner; one hundred and sixty-four. In the gallery, the numbers 
begin at the southwest corner and proceed around the church to the northwest corner, — fifty-eight 
pews. Pews 1,2,54, 55, 56,57, io8, no, 112, 114, 115, and 116 are generally open pews, mostly 
used by the deacons in certain services. 

' "m. n." means maiden surname. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 



107 



12. Henry Tasker. 
Enoch O. Tasker. 

Miss Charlotte M. Palmer. 

13. Jeremiah York. 

14. Thomas I. Greene. 

15. Charles O. Worthen. 

16. Reuben H. Twombly. 
Miss Ella Hall. 

17. Robert Hamilton. 

18. John H. Blanchard. 

19. Joseph Mann. 

20. Joseph E. Peaslee. 

Mrs. John O. Wallingford, m. n. 
Cook. 

21. George A. Reynolds. 
Joseph Oldroyd. 

Miss Olive A. Caverly. 
Miss Lucretia Hosmer. 

22. Isaac S. Brewster. 

Mrs. Dr. John H. Paul, m.n. Hanson. 
Mrs. Charles F. Ham, m. n. De- 
meritt. 

23. Washington Anderton. 
Augustus Richardson. 

24. Jeremiah Y. Wingate. 
Joseph W. Wingate. 

25. Valentine Mathes. 
Alfred P. Drew. 

26. Charles A. Faxon. 
Joshua M. Ham. 

27. Horace P. Watson. 

28. Charles H. Trickey. 
Edward R. Goodwin. 

29. Thomas E. Gushing. 
Dr. Douglas Malcolm. 

30. Henry H. Hart, 
John R. Higgins. 

31. Joshua G. Flagg. 
Frederick A. Wood. 

32. Henry D. Freeman. 

33. Dr. Thomas J. W. Pray. 
William H. Moore. 

34. Solomon H. Foye. 
Joseph D. Guppey. 

35. B. Frank Nealley. 
John H. Nealley. 

36. Alvah Moulton. 

37. 

38. Mrs. Charles B. Shackford, m. n. 
Cartland. 
Charles S. Cartland. 



39- 
40. 

41. 
42, 

43- 
44. 

45- 



46. 

47. 



49. 
50- 
51- 



59- 
60. 



61 



62. 

63- 
64. 

65. 
66. 



67. 
68. 
69. 
70. 

71- 
72. 

73' 



Dr. Charles M. Murphy. 

Dr. William W. Hayes. 

James V. Hanson. 

The Minister's. 

Daniel Hall. 

Charles Woodman. 

Jasper H. Randlett. 

Samuel C. Fisher. 

Mrs. Emma J. C. Hobbs, m. n. 

Christie. 
Joshua G. Hall. 
Dr. Levi G. Hill. 
Frank P. Shepard. 
Joseph Hayes. 
Charles E. Bacon. 
Henry Dow. 
Mrs. Joseph W. Welch, m. n. 

Tapley. 
William Robinson. 
Thomas B. Twombly. 
Miss Mary Odiorne. 
Charles W. Woodman. 
Joseph Jones. 
Mrs. Emma H. Rogers, m. n. 

Woodworth. 
Dr. Albert G. Fenner. 
Buel C. Carter. 

William F. Nason. 

Arthur G. Whittemore. 

Mrs. Silas Moody, m. n. Wingate. 

Mrs. Moses Paul, m. n. Hodgdon. 

Mrs. John J. Hodgdon, m. n. Curtis. 

Miss Mary H. Thompson. 

John Scales. 

Edward H. Rollins. 

J. Alonzo Wiggin. 

Joshua Converse. 

Andrew H. Young. 

Albert F. Hussey. 

Mrs. Cornelius E. Caswell, m. n. 
Chase. 

Mrs. Archibald B. Blair, m. n. 
Briggs. 

James H. Dexter. 

Oliver Wyatt. 

Dr. Henry R. Parker. 

Dr. James H. Wheeler. 

Augustus B. Burwell. 

William R. Tapley. 
William S. Stevens. 



io8 



THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 



74- 


Frank B. Williams. 


92. 


William H. Busby. 




Bartholomew Rich. 




Francis A. Freeman. 


75- 


Mrs. Alphonso Bickford, m. n. 


93- 


John Craig. 




Smith. 


94. 


Henry Law. 




Elisha R. Brown. 


95- 


Mrs. Samuel Hussey, m. n. Home. 


76. 


Charles C. Hardy. 


96. 


George H. Tibbetts. 




Dr. John R. Ham. 




George H. Wentworth. 


77- 


Charles H. Sawyer. 




Miss C. E. Bancroft. 


78. 


Albert O. Mathes. 




Miss Laura S. Hayes. 




Augustus T. Coleman. 


97- 


Richard Kay. 


79- 


William Home. 




Horatio G. Hanson. 


80. 


Dr. Charles W. Tasker. 


98. 


John Mclntire. 




Mrs. Andrew Tetherly, m. n. Rob- 




William D. Wentworth. 




erts. 


99. 


Benjamin Brierly. 


81. 


Edmund J. Lane. 


100. 


Eben F. Faxon. 




Edmund B. Lane. 


lOI. 


Charles W. Demeritt. 


82. 


Mrs. John R. Varney, m. n. Kim- 




Martin V. B. Wentworth. 




ball. 


102. 


Simeon B. Folsom. 




Cyrus E. Hayes. 


103. 


Andrew Rollins. 


83- 


Theodore W. Woodman. 


104. 


Benjamin O. Reynolds. 




Clarence Pinkham. 


105. 


Samuel H. Mathes. 


84 


Mrs. Louisa J. Thompson, m. n. 




Mrs. Charles H. Horton, m. n. La- 




Davis. 




coste. 


85. 


Oliver Azro Gibbs. 




John M. Crosby. 


86. 


Henry C. Goodwin. 


106. 


Charles Porter. 




J. Herbert Seavey. 




Miss Ida B. Hanson. 


87. 


Nathaniel E. Hanson. 




Miss Carrie S. Hanson. 


88. 


James H. Davis. 


107. 


Jacob M. Willey. 


89. 


George H. Bradbury. 




John F. Tibbetts. 




Miss Nellie Hayes. 


109. 


William Kinghom. 


90. 


Alfred C. Clark. 


III. 


Mrs. Lydia B. Cate, m. n. Miles. 


91. 


Isaac Brooks. 




Miss Mary Y. Hayes. 




Charles W. Colbath. 


"3- 


Mrs. Mary Wigg, m. n. Richmond. 



In the 
4. Mrs. Hannah McElroy,m.n. Camp- 
bell. 
7. Charles W. Pinkham. 
9. Nathaniel Watson. 

10. John Mack. 

11. Miss Mary W. Porter. 

12. Miss Elizabeth Hatch. 

15. Mrs. John H. Decatur, m. n. Wood- 

us. 

16. Joseph E. Kimball. 

19. William H. Allen. 

20. John W. Emery. 

22. Mrs. Amasa Roberts, m. n. Per- 
kins. 
Mrs. Andrew T. Roberts, m. n. 
Roberts. 



Gallery, 

23. Mrs. Hannah C. Canney, m. n. 

Hanson. 

24. Benjamin P. Peirce. 

25. Mrs. Lucy M. Whitehouse, m. n. 

Twombly. 

26. William H. Peirce. 

28. William H. Hanson. 
Charles O. Baker. 

29. Mrs. John H. Kelley, m. n. Leavitt. 

30. James Copeland, 2d. 
John N. Canney. 

34. John Martin. 
43. James Marshall. 
47. Joseph A. Peirce. 
49. Rufus B. Emery. 
56. Franklin F. Davis. 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. IO9 

It is, of course, difficult to trace descent, especially in female lines, 
through six, seven, or even eight and nine generations; but I can give 
a tolerably complete list of persons who, being members of this parish 
more than two hundred years ago, are represented by descendants in 
the male line now in this congregation, and an approximate account^ of 
such as are descendants by female lines and in other names. The list 
could be enlarged, if it included all descendants now resident in 
Dover ; but it is confined to this congregation : — 

Austin, Joseph. — Charles S. Cartland (treasurer of Strafford County); Mrs. 

Charles B. Shackford. 
BiCKFORD, John. — Mrs. Elisha R. Brown. 
Canney, Thomas. — John N. Canney; John F. Tibbetts; George H. Tibbetts; 

Charles S. Cartland. 
Chesley, Philip. — Descendants of Dea. John Hall, as given below. 
Coffin, Peter. — Mrs. William Home; Mrs. Charles H. Sawyer. 
Cromwell, Philip. — John B. Stevens, jr. 
Dam, John. — Joseph D. Guppey (late mayor of Dover) ; the children of Mrs. Lucy 

M. Whitehouse. 
Davis, John. — James H. Davis (now chairman of assessors of Dover) ; Franklin F. 

Davis ; Mrs. Louisa J. Thompson. 
Drew, Thomas (or William ?). — Alfred P. Drew. 
Emery, Anthony. — John W. Emery; Rufus B. Emery. 
Foss, John. — Rev. Alonzo H. Quint; Mrs. Andrew H. Young. 
Gerrish, John. — Augustus Richardson; Mrs. Washington Anderton. 
Hall, Deacon John. — Daniel Hall (late colonel U. S. Vols., now naval officer of 

the port of Boston) ; Joshua G. Hall (late member of Congress from New 

Hampshire) ; Miss Ella Hall, daughter of Everett Hall ; Rev. Alonzo Hall 

Quint, D. D. (late chaplain 2d Mass. Vols.) ; Solomon Hall Foye (late mayor of 

Dover); Alfred C. Clark; Charles A. Fairbanks, m. D. (city physician of 

Dover) ; Mrs. Joseph E. Kimball. 
Hall, Lieut. Ralph. — Frank B. Williams. 
Ham, John. — John R. Ham, m. d. (late surgeon U. S. Vols.) ; Joshua M. Ham; the 

children of John F. Kelley. 
Hanson, Thomas. — Nathaniel E. Hanson ; James V. Hanson ; John J. Hanson ; 

Horatio G. Hanson ; William H. Hanson ; Misses Ida B. and Carrie S. Hanson, 

daughters of James W. Hanson ; the children of the late John R. Varney ; Mrs. 

John H. Paul ; Charles S. Cartland. 
Hayes, John. — Joseph Hayes; Cyrus E.Hayes; Dr. William W. Hayes; Miss 

Nellie Hayes and Miss Laura S. Hayes, daughters of Charles Hayes. 
Heard, Capt. John. — John R. Ham, m. d. ; the children of the late John R. Varney. 
Hill, Valentine. — Mrs. Henry Dow. 
HORNE, William. — William R. Tapley ; Mrs. Joseph W. Welch ; Horace 

Kimball; Mrs. Henry C. Goodwin; Mrs. Alfred C. Clark; Mrs. Samuel 

Hussey. 
Hull, Rev. Joseph. — The children of the late John R. Varney. 
Jones, Stephen. — Joseph Jones. 

* The names in small capitals are those of members of this parish more than two hundred years ago ; 
the names following are those of their descendants now in this congregation. 



no THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

Mathes, Francis. — Albert O. Mathes ; Samuel H. Mathes ; Valentine Mathes. 

Nutter, Elder Hatevil. — Descendants of John Wingate, whom see below. 

Otis, Richard. — James H. Wheeler, m. d. ; Thomas M. Pray, son of Dr. T. J. W. 
Pray ; Thomas B. Twombly ; Charles O. Baker ; Mrs. Lucy M. Whitehouse. 
Charles S. Cartland. 

PiNKHAM, Richard. — Charles W. Pmkham ; Clarence I. Pinkham. 

PoMFRETT, William. — Joseph D. Guppey ; the children of Mrs. Lucy M. White- 
house. 

Roberts, Thomas. — Mrs. Andrew T. Roberts and her children ; Mrs. Andrew 
Tetherly; Charles S. Cartland; Mrs. Charles B. Shackford. 

Rollins, James. — Andrew Rollins; Edward H. Rollins (late senator of the 
United States). 

Shackford, William. — The children of the late Charles B. Shackford (solicitor 
of Strafford County); Mrs. Dr. Levi G. Hill. 

Smith, Joseph. — Mrs. Dr. Alphonso Bickford; Mrs. Elisha R. Brown. 

Starbuck, Elder Edward. — The descendants of Humphrey Varney. 

Tasker, William. — Dr. Charles W. Tasker; Enoch O. Tasker ; Henry Tasker. 

TiBBETTS, Henry. — George H. Tibbetts ; John F. Tibbetts. 

Trickey, Thomas. — Charles H. Trickey. 

TuTTLE, John. — Daniel Hall. 

Twombly, Ralph. — Reuben H. Twombly ; Thomas B. Twombly; Mrs. William 
Home; Mrs. Lucy M. Whitehouse. 

Varney, Humphrey. — Joshua Varney; the children of the late John R. Var- 
ney (late register of probate); Charles S. Cartland; Mrs. Charles B. Shack- 
ford. 

Walderne, Major Richard. — Augustus Richardson ; Miss Mary Y. Hayes, 
daughter of Oliver P. Hayes. 

Waldron, John. — Andrew Rollins; Horace Kimball ; James H. Wheeler, M. d. ; 
Thomas M. Pray. 

Walton, George. — Rev. Alonzo H. Quint. 

Watson, Jonathan. — Nathaniel Watson ; Horace P. Watson ; Mrs. Lucy M. 
Whitehouse ; Benjamin O. Reynolds. 

Wentworth, Elder William. — George H. Wentworth ; Martin V. B. Went- 
worth; William D. Wentworth; John R. Ham, m. d. ; James H. Wheeler, M. d.; 
Thomas M. Pray; Thomas B. Twombly; Mrs. Lucy M. Whitehouse; the 
Wingates (whom see below); Henry C. Goodwin; Andrew Rollins; Edward 
H. Rollins (late U. S. senator). 

Whitehouse, Thomas. — The daughters of Mrs. Lucy M. Whitehouse. 

WiGGiN, Capt. Thomas, the leader of the Emigration of 1633. — Joseph Alonzo 
Wiggin. 

WiLLEY, Thomas. — Jacob M. Willey ; Rev. Alonzo H. Quint. 

Wingate, John. — Jeremiah Y. Wingate; Joseph W. Wingate; Mrs. William 
Home ; Mrs. Charles H. Sawyer ; Mrs. Silas Moody. 

Woodman, John. — Theodore W. Woodman. 

York, Richard. — Jeremiah York. 

Young, Thomas. — Miss Ro.\anna P. Young, daughter of the late John Young, 

It will be seen by this imperfect list that fifty of the men of this 
parish more than two hundred years ago are represented by de- 
scendants now members of this congregation, and that twenty-eight 



THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS. Ill 

of these are represented by descendants bearing the same names 
through male lines of descent.^ 

I congratulate you on the present prosperity of this parish. At no 
time in its history has it been stronger, or more united, or more at ease 
in its financial circumstances. These things are outward, it is true, 
but they are essential. They furnish the opportunity for spiritual 
work. 

I have omitted much — it seems I have scarcely touched on the his- 
tory of this parish ; and I have omitted in the reading much which I 
had written. How little is yet said of a life which covers the settle- 
ment of most of this continent, which has compassed the great wars 
of these centuries, the formation of the republic, and its redemp- 
tion ; the work which has grown so great, and by such methods, that a 
mere child, by gift and prayer, touches the keys of electric power in 
Asia or the Islands of the Sea ! 

And yet how_/^ changes in two hundred and fifty years. To us, it 
seems wonderful. But the records of the earth's structure laugh at 
so slight an epoch. The prophecy of eternity scarce stops to reckon 
it. Men pass away, but how little else is altered. The same waves 
flow on for us as did for the keels our fathers sailed. The same rivers 
flow down on either side the gentle slopes where our fathers are buried 
in unknown graves. The same tides ebb and flow and wash the pebbly 
beach where the rivers meet. The same moon lights up the great and 
beautiful bay and the dark green woods. The same soils make the 
trees and the grass and the corn. They looked over the Newichawan- 
nock and saw Agamenticus peak, and across the westward and saw 
the blue hills. They drank of the waters of the spring under the 
western slope. There now are all these ; and you can see the hills 
and drink the water. The powers of God abide, the forces of God 
work on. 

" It would be interesting to know what descendants of that old Dover stock are or have been 
prominent in the world, but there are as yet few data. A few names may be mentioned : — 

Theodoric Romeyn Beck, M. D., ll. d., illustrious in medical literature, was descended from Henry 
Beck. Sir Isaac CofBn, Bart., admiral of the white in the British navy, from Pefer Coffin. George 
W. Storer, rear-admiral in the U. S. navy, from William Storer. From Ralph Hall, — Tobias Lear, 
Washington's private secretary; Gov. John Langdon, the first president of the U. S. Senate; Judge 
Woodbury Langdon, member of the old Congress. From Deacon [ohn Hall,— the writer John Neal; 
Gen. Neal Dow. From Elder William Wentworth, — the three governors, John Wentworlh, Benning 
Wentworth, and Sir Jrhn Wentworth, Bart.; Hon. John Wentworth, of Chicago; Mrs. Lvdia H. 
Sigourney, distinguished in American poetry ; Mrs. Catherine F. Gore, the English novelist ; Thomas 
W. Peirce, the railway magnate of Texas and California. Edward Ashton Rollms, late U. S. 
commissioner of internal revenue, is descended from lames Rollins and from Elder Wentworth. 
Rev. William Hayes Ward, D. D., editor of the Independent, is descended from John Hayes. From 
the "cruel constable" John Roberts, who whipped the Quaker women, is descended, by a peculiar 
fate, the beloved Quaker poet, John Greenleaf Whiltier, who is descended also from Thomas Hanson, 
William Home, and Robert Evans. 



112 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

We have spoken of a parish. It is but an outward shell, a form for 
the inward principle. It is to embody the spirit of Christ as a living 
power in the earth. Distinguish between the transient and the perma- 
nent. This body dwelt in a rude, log church, and now it dwells in 
these symmetrical and ornate walls ; but it is the same body. 

Though men's forms of expression vary with the advancing ages, 
the faith is the same. All down these ages have the generations looked 
up to the Father in their same needs ; have lifted up psalms of the 
same spirit ; have loved the same revealed word, sweet and precious ; 
have trusted the same Divine Redeemer, and worshipped the same God : 
for He is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. 



ADDRESSES BY PRESENT MINISTERS OF DOVER.i 



Asa Tuttle,2 minister of the Society of Friends, spoke as follows : — 

I have been kindly assured on coming before you that no harm shall 
befall me by the inflicting of stripes or otherwise, so I may at once feel 
m3'self at home. 

I could but gladly accept the invitation to participate in the celebra- 
tion of this noted anniversary, not so much in anticipation of any act- 
ive part I might take in the exercises as for the enjoyment of kindly 
greetings and pleasant rehearsals of the past in connection with the 
sacred spot of earth, — my old home on Dover Neck, — such as are so 
vividly brought to life by the law of association. 

I perceive by the programme that the list of exercises, separately 
performed, will not admit of more than ten to fifteen minutes each, and 
for this reason I am compelled to condense what I feel to say on such 
an occasion without congratulations or apologies. 

If I am here to represent the Society of Friends (commonly called 
Quakers), I can do no less than act in their defence, springing up as 
they did almost in conjunction with this mother church. I am thor- 
oughly conversant with the history of Dover and its wrongs. Of our 
sect, it may be said, they sprang up as out of the wilderness, were 
looked upon as an insignificant and '•'■peculiar people,'' yet "zealous of 
good works," based upon the heaven-born doctrine so exultingly 
enunciated by the angelic host upon the plains of Bethlehem : " Glory 
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men." 
They accepted Christ as the head of his church, proclaiming him to 
be the " Life and the Light of men." 

Independent of church or creed, and in spite of revilings and perse- 

^ All ministers of cliurches now in Dover, without distinction of church, were invited to speak at 
the commemoration. 

These addresses were given in the evening. Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D. D., introducing the speak- 
ers, and Deacon James H. Wheeler, M. D., reading letters sent on the occasion. 

' The speaker is a descendant of the emigrant John Tuttlb, who was a resident of Dover and of 
this parish at least as early as 1642. The origin of the Friends' meeting here is given earlier in this 
publication. 



114 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

cutions, they persisted in seed sowing, leaving the result with Him who 
commanded them to sow. To this I feel that it is proper for me to 
refer. In doing so, I aim not to eulogize, but to do them honor. 

Our aim as a people has been not so much to proselyte for the in- 
crease and enlargement of the organization as that of evangelizing the 
world, taking as our motto the golden rule, — that of doing unto 
others as we would be done by, — leading quiet and peaceable lives in 
the sight of all men. Thus far covering two centuries have we labored 
in concert with other branches of the church for the spread of the 
gospel and the amelioration of mankind. In lieu of dissensions and a 
breach of faith in common with other sects, it may be safely said they 
help to people this American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
reaching out to Australia, West India, and New Mexico, leavening as 
they go the community into one common brotherhood. Godliness has 
been their watchword ; and this brings me to an experience during my 
mission work of late among the Indians of the far West, — the remnant 
of a people once sole proprietors of this spot of earth whereon we now 
celebrate, " a cruel and treacherous people,''^ so often referred to to-day. 
I have almost trembled as I have been led forward and introduced to 
them as God's vtan, or one of God's men. Well might I query, and 
well may we query as pastors over the people, are we God's men, living 
Christ among men 1 Are we worthy of the name we bear, and are we 
accomplishing the end of our calling, while so many around us are 
going down to destruction "i Do we heed the admonition, 

" Be what thou seemest ; live thy creed ; 
Hold up to earth the Life Divine : 
Be what thou prayest to be made. 
Let the great Master's steps be thine " i" 

I feel that I am one with you, and hope to act my part as a parcel of the 
community which makes up the place of my nativity. In the language 
of the reformed boys at their accustomed greetings, I can say, " I am 
glad to be here," — rejoice in receiving a more powerful incentive to 
do good, and act the part of a true fellow-citizen. 

Rev. Jesse M. Durrell, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
spoke as follows : — 

No philosophy of history can be adequate that does not recognize 
an overruling Providence in the affairs of the race. The millions that 
have preceded us have sought to accomplish their varied purposes with 
more or less success. Yet He who is *' the same yesterday and to-day 
and forever " has been weaving into the warp of the centuries the woof 
of human efforts. If I open an atlas to the map of the United States, 



ADDRESSES BY PRESENT MINISTERS OF DOVER. II 5 

put a strip of paper over the Mississippi River, hiding it from the eye, 
and call a child who has never seen such a map, he will fail to compre- 
hend the geographical unity of the Mississippi basin. The great tribu- 
taries will seem to be flowing in various and contrary directions, very 
puzzling to the child's mind. But when the strip is removed from the 
great stream into which all the rest flow, a unity is at once revealed, 
and the beauty of the vast river system appears to the young learner 
with very little explanation. When God is shut out of human history, 
we are lost in our efforts to solve its problems. We can follow, for a 
brief time, the life of this or that hero, and the work of this or that 
nation ; but no great purpose, no main stream appears till we take 
account of God's part in our affairs. Generations come and genera- 
tions go ; but he lives on, turning into the channel of his own divine 
purpose the various trends of human thought and streams of human 
activities, 

God has an ideal which he is trying to work out. From the time 
the first intelligent being recognized his Maker till now, God's great 
and absorbing purpose has been the ultimate production of a type of 
manhood exhibiting all that is best and purest in moral beings, — a 
type illustrating the beauty of willing and joyous worship. 

The instrumentality by which God proposes to reach this result is 
" the church " built upon his " promises." The first family in the 
church was established on the promise that the woman's "seed " should 
bruise the serpent's head. From that day to this God has had a church 
on the earth. As occasions required, new promises were added to the 
original prophecy till the completion of the sacred canon. All so- 
cieties built upon this Word of God are branches of the true church. 
The Bible, therefore, becomes the book of books. Though the sacred 
canon is finished, it is full of spiritual life for the realization of the 
divine ideal in human society. True, some look upon the Scriptures 
as a mass of historic slag, — an extinct volcano, curious, but dead. 
Nevertheless, when men have least expected, light has, from time to 
time, broken forth from its depths. Even a Bible in chains may con- 
tain hidden fire. When Martin Luther opened the old volume in the 
monastery of Erfurth, ideas shot out from this furnace of truth like 
incandescent stars from a crucible of molten steel, that started the 
beacon lights of progress wherever they struck. The wave that in 
1620 broke on the rocks of Plymouth, and that which followed soon 
after, on our New Hampshire coasts, were only the outer rings of that 
religious agitation by which Western Europe and England had been 
moved. These points in the outer circles, impinging on our shores, 
were destined in time to become the main sources of inspiration for a 



Il6 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

new set of religious influences which, we trust, are yet to sweep on 
over the globe. 

In celebrating this evening the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary 
of the First Parish of Dover, we show to the world that we are carrying 
on the work begun by our fathers. As those early settlers gave their 
chief strength to the unfolding of the Word of God as they compre- 
hended it, so we, following in their footsteps, purpose to do our part in 
carrying out the divine plan of developing a type of pure manhood on 
the basis of Revelation. 

It is true that the Puritans and other bodies of those times did not 
fully understand, or measure up to the Scripture standard. But they had 
been educated in a hard school. Intolerance was the spirit of the 
times. It had come down from the Middle Ages, when the priest 
was made superior to the Word as interpreted by individual con- 
science. If the fathers brought bigotry such as impelled John Endi- 
cott to cut the cross from the military ensign, they also brought the 
remedy, — the Bible, As its precepts became better understood, a bet- 
ter spirit prevailed, and room was found for all of the Christian denomi- 
nations required in such a work as the Lord has contemplated. This 
evening we not only meet to congratulate this parish, but to honor the 
Bible, whose teachings have made and preserved us a free people. 

We have but commenced the realization of the divine ideal ; better 
things are yet in store. From each century of the past, God has gathered 
the best souls, and welded the gold into a link of the great chain of his 
holy purpose. We may not be able to tell the exact relations we sustain 
to the past or to the future ; but when the last link shall have been 
welded and the chain finished, it will constitute a glorious whole, 
reaching up to God's throne. 

Rev. Sullivan H. M'Collester, d. d., of the Universalest Church,* 
spoke as follows : — 

Having enjoyed the able and timely address delivered here this 
afternoon, and having been cheered by the harmony of ancient songs, 
we can but feel this is a memorable and historic occasion. Memory 
and history, — the former a pensive Ruth gleaning the golden grain of 
the past, to sow afresh the fields of the present, in order that the future 

' The earliest date usually given to the beginning of services by this denomination in Dover is in 
1825; but the N. H. Republican, of Dover, 6 April 1824, says: " The Rev. Edward Turner has ac- 
cepted the invitation of the Universalist Society in this town to become their minister." 

Hiram Rollins, Benjamin Wiggin, James Wingale, John Moore, Jonathan Locke, and Jeremiah H. 
Curtis, for themselves and associates, gave public notice, 2S March 1825, that they had formed them- 
selves into a society called " The First Society of Unjversaljsts in Dover and Somersworth." The date 
of organiiSation was 33 March 182s- — a. h. q. 



ADDRESSES BY PRESENT MINISTERS OF DOVER. II / 

may yield more abundant harvests ; the latter a grand temple, a Val- 
halla, embellished with the presence of sainted characters. These 
agents at once convert the present into the past or the past into the 
present. They introduce us to a Newton, who unfolds anew the glories 
of the heavens ; they acquaint us with a Cuvier, who exhibits us to the 
wonders and intricacies of the animal creation ; they present to us a 
Bacon, who is revealing the marvellous secrets of nature ; they make us 
disciples of Plato, that we may learn of his philosophy ; they open the 
gates of the past, that we may walk the streets of Thebes, Palmyra, 
peerless Athens, and the city of the Cagsars ; they make us familiar 
with sacred scenes, that we may become profoundly interested in the 
laws of Moses, the songs of David, the prophecies of Isaiah, the com- 
pleteness of Matthew, the brevity of Mark, the definiteness of Luke, 
the love of John, the submission of Mary, and the life and teachings 
of Jesus. 

So these agents are sure to render spots and places, where men 
wrought, suggestive and notable. Plymouth Rock of itself presents 
nothing remarkable. It is like other ledges outwardly, and yet it is 
most significant. It has a peculiar individuality of its own, because the 
footsteps of the Pilgrims pressed it as they landed on our shores, ren- 
dering it attractive so long as stone shall endure and mind exist. Mars 
Hill is a rugged pile of rocks, quite uninviting to^the casual eye ; still, 
as the considerate Christian now stands upon it, somehow it becomes 
illuminated, and is certain to captivate, because Paul once stood there 
in the presence of stoic philosophers, and discoursed upon Christ and 
the resurrection. 

For the reason of memory and history, we are engaged in these 
eventful services. This parish to-day is two hundred and fifty years 
old. Its age verily warrants this celebration. Who is able to tell its 
wondrous story ? Who can estimate justly its external growth, its in- 
ternal life ? Who can tell what has been its influence upon this town, 
county, and State ? Who can infonn us how much it has accomplished 
in behalf of religion, education, and civilization ? Let the living and 
the departed poor come and rehearse its abundant charities ; the sick, 
its countless blessings ; and the afflicted, its sweet consolations. Let 
yonder cities of the dead teach us how some seven generations have 
come and gone since this parish was first established. Let its ministers 
and laymen gather up from its noble past its good things, making glad 
the present and more glorious its future. Ah ! the money expended 
and the lives devoted to its welfare have not been in vain. May hearts 
still cleave to it and hands strive for it, that its coming experience may 
be more blessed than its past ! 
9 



Il8 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

A ship out at sea is largely dependent upon the force of circumstan- 
ces ; but not so with a steamer, which pushes out from port and presses 
on through wildest wave and severest storms to its destiny because of 
its internal force. The power within overcomes the might without, 
causing its voyages to be comparatively safe and sure. So with a 
parish and church having Christ for its inner power : it is certain to 
move successfully on through the years and centuries, achieving the 
happiest and grandest results. 

Not long since I stood by the ruins of a temple on Attic soil, close 
down upon the ^gean Sea. Surveying stone and carving, it was evi- 
dent genius, skill, and industry had faithfully wrought there. But I 
was still more interested in the legend of that old structure, describing 
how it was built by the worshippers of Neptune, and that when it was 
dedicated it was presented to the sea-faring men of that land, with the 
request that, as they should go forth on distant voyages, they should 
collect precious stones, beautiful shells, and sacred keepsakes, and on 
their return they should have these united into wreaths and garlands, 
and hung upon the walls of the fair temple, that, in the course of time, 
it might become the most beautiful place of worship in all the earth. 
Thus, Christians of this First Parish and Church of Dover, having now 
a beautiful and commodious temple, the outcome of that first log meet- 
ing-house of this town and State, piled up two hundred and fifty years 
ago, may you so love, so bless, so do good daily, that you can come 
into this sacred place Sunday after Sunday to worship God and en- 
courage man, and this parish will still grow and prosper, producing 
saintly lives for the temple not made with hands ! 

Rev. Henry F. Wood, pastor of the First Free Baptist Church,^ 
spoke as follows : — 

It gives me very great pleasure to be with you and participate 
in the services of this most interesting occasion. The memories 
awakened by this joyful anniversary give occasion for devout thanks- 
giving to Almighty God. 

As we look back to-night over the two hundred and fifty years of this 
church's history, we can but rejoice that God has spared it so long, 
enabled it to make such a wonderful record and to accomplish such 
an incalculable amount of good in the world. 

But while we rejoice in the written history of the church, we are glad 
also to remember that it has an unwritten Jiistory, that can be read only 

* Meetings by Free Will Baptists were held at Upper Factory in or near the year 1824. This church 
was organized at Garrison Hill, 15 September 1826, with twenty-five members. 



ADDRESSES BY PRESENT MINISTERS OF DOVER. I 1 9 

in eternity, and only as we read that while the eternal ages go by can 
we form any adequate conception of what the church has done for the 
glory of God and the uplifting of the race. 

As we stand here to-night and look back over the two and a half 
centuries, we can but lift our hearts to God in devout thanksgiving for 
the wonderful progress made and the numerous changes for the better 
that have taken place. 

We thank God for the complete separation of Church and State, and 
for what that separation means, both to the church and the world. We 
rejoice in the spirit of Christian union and brotherly charity, which is 
ever broadening and deepening as the years go by, — bringing the par- 
tition walls between sects lower and lower, and hastening the day when 
that touching prayer of our Lord shall be answered, in which he asked 
that all his people should be one, even as he and his Father were one. 

We rejoice that in the years over which we look to-night a spirit of 
missions has been springing up and increasing more and more, and is 
helping the church to fulfil the great commission of the Master, " Go 
ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation." 

But while we can but thank God for these and many other changes 
for the better that have taken place, this is much more than an occasion 
for mere rejoicing. It is both a prophecy and an inspiration, — a 
prophecy and a sure evidence that the day is hastening when the stone 
cut out of the mountain without hands is to fill the whole earth, when 
" the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters 
cover the sea," and when the kingdoms of this world shall become 
"the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." Strange as it may 
seem, there are those who would have us believe the world is growing 
worse and worse. To learn that the contrary of this is true, we have 
only to look at the years covered by the history of this church. The 
progress made in science, art, literature, and religion is wonderful. 

We are living in the brightest days the world has ever seen, and they 
are growing brighter and brighter as the light of Christianity and civil- 
ization advances. There never was a time when the Bible was read 
by so many people, and when its light and power were so universally 
seen and felt as now. Only a few years ago the doors of many heathen 
nations were closed and barred against the Gospel, and those who 
sought to carry it to them did it only at the risk of their lives ; but now 
these doors are thrown wide open, and the people are stretching out 
their hands to us and begging for the Gospel. 

The Bible was never translated into so many languages as to-day ; 
while the numerous Bible societies are scattering it everywhere, like 
the leaves of the forest, and its glorious light already belts the world. 



I20 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

There is a spirit of deep benevolence in the church of Christ, and 
she is now using her wealth to spread the light of the Gospel and evan- 
gelize the world as never before. Where, a hundred years ago, one 
dollar was given for benevolent purposes, thousands are given to-day. 
More has been done in the last century to give the Bible to the 
M^orld than was done in the first ten centuries of the Christian era. 

Standing, then, where we do to-day, and looking back to the time 
of the organization of this church, and marking the contrast between 
the condition of the world thc7i and now, with wonder, and with 
thanksgiving, too, we exclaim, " What hath God wrought ! " And this 
wonderful progress, the evidences of which are everywhere to be 
seen, is a prophecy of the final victory the Gospel is destined to 
achieve. And this is to us also an inspiration to engage in the 
work of the Gospel with renewed zeal and fervor and courage. We 
have little courage to labor unless we have reason to believe a thing 
may be accomplished. 

Nothing can be surer than the final triumph of Christianity in the 
world. We have the assurance of this both in Revelation and in the 
history of the past. May this be to us all not only an occasion for 
rejoicing, but a sure prophecy of yet more glorious things to come, 
and an inspiration to do still more and better work for the Master 
in the great harvest-field of the world ! 

Rev. William R. G. Mellen, of the Unitarian Church, spoke as 
follows : — 

To my thinking, there are three sentiments specially appropriate to 
this occasion. They are Retrospection, Congratulation, and Anticipa- 
tion. To devote to them the passing moments is to make " history 
teach by example," is to philosophize upon human life. 

Retrospection — recalling again the persons and characters, the 
doings and sufferings of the men and women, who, two hundred and 
fifty years ago, landed on our sterile shores, not to depart the next 
day, but to stay, building for themselves homes, and helping to build 
the kingdom of God. They are well worthy to be often recalled; for 
how self-denying, brave, and strong they were ! How nobly, accord- 
ing to their light, they acquitted themselves under the burden of tre- 
mendous responsibilities, we can need no reminding save to deepen 
our respect and gratitude. True, they had some unamiable character- 
istics. They did n't love the Quakers over-much, and would not 
have listened very quietly to such a voice as that which just now fell 
so quaintly pleasant on your ears. Neither had they a very ardent 
affection for the Baptists, thinking that, of them, a " distance," at least 



ADDRESSES BY PRESENT MINISTERS OF DOVER. 121 

as far as Rhode Island, " lent enchantment to the view." They would 
not, therefore, have greatly enjoyed the congratulations of the friend 
who preceded me. Nor did they waste much of their " sweetness and 
light " on any who ventured to depart from their standards. They 
were stern, gloomy, not to say somewhat morose, men and women, as 
those compelled to so arduous labor, to so frequent contests with the 
Indians, and to so constant a warfare with the Great Adversary, have 
some excuse for being. They made the Sunday a fast-day for them- 
selves, and a terrible burden for the little ones. It is said that some 
of them whipped their beer-barrels for working on the first day of the 
week. They missed the joyous element in religion, — the element sug- 
gested by external beauties and natural harmonies, and expressed by 
innocent hilarity and honest laughter. It was not with exceeding joy 
that they went to the house of their God. That is, they were not 
complete or ideal men. 

What then ! Ideal men are not very numerous. Point me to any 
considerable class, or to any individual — with a single exception — 
that is not open to criticism. The sun has spots upon its surface. But 
than the Pilgrim Fathers, who have been more faithful to their light ? 
What they believed in they believed with all their might, and they 
stood by it with scarce less firmness than the rock-bound coast against 
the Atlantic waves. Their first care was to plant the church, building 
a house for worship almost before they provided themselves with a 
shelter from the storm. Close beside the church they reared the 
school, — the common school, — a fact of no little significance, and 
worthy of remembrance now when this bulwark of free institutions 
and help to a high civilization is so frequently and violently assailed. 
Free worship and sound learning, which, if not inevitably, are very 
naturally conjoined, were their fundamental ideas. Resulting from 
these — spiritual freedom and a generally diffused intelligence — came 
their Congregational church-polity, — the right and duty of each sep- 
arate church, with such friendly advice as it could command, to manage 
its own affairs, responsible only, as each soul, to its own sense of duty 
and to its God. How great an influence this ecclesiastical polity had in 
preparing the way for and educating the people to an appreciation of 
the free civil polity that was subsequently adopted, who can tell ? 
Certainly, when wise men were casting about for governmental forms 
adapted to the young and rising community, here, directly at hand, was 
found an example of a truly representative democracy. For these 
reasons — only to be suggested now — may we on every such anni. 
versary as this gratefully remember the Pilgrim Fathers. For these 
reasons, well may we do what they never did for each other, — beau- 



122 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

tify the surroundings of, and cast a flower upon, their last resting- 
places. 

Congratulation. — We are the children of these men. We are the 
heirs of all the truth they saw and vindicated, of all the nobleness they 
lived, of all the worthy influences they set in motion. Their blood is 
in our veins, their thought in our minds, their spirit in our hearts. 
Does blood tell ? Is it a good thing to have had a strong, healthful, 
noble ancestry ? Then, of the inheritance derived from the Pilgrims 
may we be justly proud. We may congratulate ourselves on succeed- 
ing to the intellectual and moral estate they accumulated and have 
bequeathed, — not, of course, that this inheritance has remained un- 
mingled with other and finer elements. The modifications, not to say 
revolutions, of thought and life which have since occurred in New Eng- 
land are the commonplace themes of conversation. The theology of 
two hundred and fifty years ago would not fall gratefully on many ears 
now. The sternness and primness and lack of aesthetic taste which so 
strongly marked our great, great, great grandfathers and grandmothers 
are not very attractive to this generation. We have come to milder, 
cheerier conceptions of religion, life, duty, and destiny than they were 
able to reach. Do we regret these changes .-' Would we go back to 
their standpoint, adopting their intellectual and spiritual garments and 
furniture ? Are the clothes of boyhood equally adapted to manhood ? 
Rather let us, while congratulating ourselves on what we have inherited, 
congratulate ourselves still more heartily on what, in a spirit akin to 
theirs, we have acquired. Let us congratulate ourselves that, mounted 
on their shoulders, we can see a little farther than was permitted them. 
It may be no credit to us that we can do so ; it is certainly a very 
great privilege. 

Anticipation. — Two hundred and fifty years ago the Fathers, for the 

first time, 

" Made the sounding aisles of these dim woods ring 
To the anthem of the free." 

In the history of a people, and still more in the history of the race, 
how short a time is that ! Yet, in the presence of the changes that 
have since occurred, we can scarcely forbear raising the prophetic 
question, " Watchman, what of the night ? " Surely change, innova- 
tion, whether improvement or not, has not ceased. Ignorance is 
lessening, the limits of knowledge almost daily retiring. Larger views, 
we think, are prevailing on almost all subjects. I read in high Con- 
gregational authorities that there is " movement " in Congregational 
theology. I am glad to read it. I hope that theology, my own 
theology, all theology is growing. There is a plenty of room for it. 



ADDRESSES BY PRESENT MINISTERS OF DOVER. 123 

Grow as it may, it will be some time before it will comprehend the 
Infinite. And when there is no growth there is no life. The true 
begins to decay as soon as it ceases to enlarge. The human soul 
declines if it do not expand. I do not forget that many worthy per- 
sons, whose fears I compassionate if I do not share, are not a little 
alarmed at what they deem the tendencies of our time, and not unfre- 
quently, when a startling novelty or a seemingly preposterous heresy is 
broached, feel like exclaiming, Well, what next is to happen ? What 
greater extravagance or absurdity is next to confront ? And, in a 
very different spirit, I echo the question. What next? I do not know. 
No man knows. But there are two considerations on which I fall back 
with unbounded satisfaction. The first is, God reigns. He always has 
reigned, he always will reign, — on earth, in heaven. Even the wrath 
of man he makes break forth into grateful paeans ; and the little good 
of man he makes issue in somewhat vastly better than man ever 
dreamed of. And the second is, Man is God's child. He did n't make 
himself such : he was so made without purpose or thought of his. Nor 
can he wholly unmake himself as such. Neither can he utterly deny 
his nature or shut up the avenues of his soul to the Holy Spirit 
Together these two — impossible to say how or when — will work out, 
are now working out, the problem of man's being on the earth. In 
that confidence I rest, not anxious — as said Mr. Lincoln — to get God 
on my side, but to get on his side, and to find out as much of his truth, 
and to do as faithfully his will, as I can. To the future, under God's 
providence, I look with unshaken, and, I think, unshakable hope. 

And now, congratulating you, members of this Congregational Parish 
of Dover, on seeing this two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of your 
origin, and trusting that whoever shall celebrate your five hundredth 
birthday will have reasons for even pleasanter Retrospection, heartier 
Congratulation, and fonder Anticipation than we to-day, I bid you a 
cordial God-speed in every endeavor to build the kingdom of God in 
our midst, and take my seat. 

Rev. Ithamar W. Beard, rector of St. Thomas's Church,^ spoke as 
follows : — 

You cannot tell, Mr. President, how your words of introduction have 
set me at ease. You do not know how much more freedom I feel 



> The first service according to the forms of the Protestant Episcopal Church known to have been 
held in Dover was held in //Iw meeting-house of this First Parish, Friday evening, 15 February 183a, 
when Rev. Henry Blackaller, of Salmon FhUs, reid the service, and the Ri::;ht Reverend Alexander V. 
Griswold, D. D., bishop of the eastern diocese, preached upon " the doctrines of the church belore 
numerous and resoectable audience." 



124 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

Standing here, when I come to know that the first six ministers of the 
First Parish Church were episcopally ordained. 

Two things make me glad to be here. One is, that, by standing here 
on the same platform with my brother ministers, I can by so doing help 
to emphasize the Unity of the Spirit which exists in the church of 
Christ, and I am happy that there is nothing in my own creed or 
in the creed of the church which I represent which denies me this 
privilege. 

I am glad, also, to be able to express my sincere and heartfelt pleas- 
ure in having this gpportunity of congratulating my friends in the First 
Parish on this interesting occasion. I have, in the seven years that I 
have lived in Dover, made so many friends among the members of this 
parish, and received so many tokens of their personal friendship, that 
my tongue ought to cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I had not some 
word of congratulation to speak. 

Before I came upon this platform I was warned by a kind friend to 
be brief, so that I shall content myself with the expression of one 
thought. 

It is said that the boy is the father of the man ; and it is certain that 
we can judge by the boy's character about what the man's character will 
be. Men are but grown-up boys. We may say, looking at the boy, 
" He will be such a kind of man"; or we may say, looking at the man, 
" He was such a kind of boy." I have thought that the life of a parish 
is something like this. We ministers that are now at work in our 
various parishes are impressing ourselves for good or for ill upon the 
character of our parishes. The work which we now are doing is taking 
its place in the bone and muscle of the parish ; it is becoming a part 
of the texture of the parish itself, so that ten, fifteen, twenty, aye two 
hundred and fifty years from now, if our churches should so long sur- 
vive, then shall be discovered the impress of the work which was done 
by the various ministers who have been over these churches. We need 
not wonder, then, in looking at the history of this First Parish as we 
know it to-day, in observing her beneficent influence in our commu- 
nity, in knowing the present character and earnestness of her various 
members, — we need not wonder, I say, to learn that this first minis- 
ter who preached this first sermon was a good man. We must not 
look upon the present prosperous condition of earnest activity and 
interest in all good things of this parish as the result of any pres- 
ent or any spasmodic effort : it is the gradual development from the 
good lives and efforts of its past ministers and members bearing their 
natural fruit in the present. The brief but faithful ministry of the 
first minister, William Leverich, finds its natural outcome and fruit 



ADDRESSES BY PRESENT MINISTERS OF DOVER. 12$ 

in the earnest life and abundantly successful ministry of him who 
has served you for the last fourteen years. 

I am glad to join in congratulations for the present, and in most 
sanguine anticipations for your future success. 

Rev. Frank K. Chase, pastor of the Washington street Free Bap- 
tist Church, spoke as follows : — 

When the chairman of your committee invited me to be present this 
evening, he spoke of this church as the mother, and of the other 
churches in the city as in some sense her children. It is well known 
that my own church is the offspring of one which was in some respects 
a child of this. I am, therefore, present to-night as the representa- 
tive of a grandchild, and as grandchildren are properly a part of all 
well-regulated family gatherings, I trust that we may be received as 
such. I am very glad to be here, and to take some part in these 
exceedingly interesting services. 

In the last two years, my own church has been called to pass through 
some very painful experiences, and I have not forgotten that on that 
sad morning when our church building was in flames, almost before 
the steeple fell, he who was then your pastor wrote me a letter of 
Christian condolence, expressing his own and his people's sympathy 
for us, and offering us this beautiful church-home of yours in which 
to hold our Sabbath services. 

I have not forgotten that it was in your chapel where we gathered 
for the first time, with sadness and tears, to implore the guidance of 
God and to make plans for the future. 

I do not forget that when we began to rebuild, you emphasized your 
kind words by the contribution of generous amounts of money. I 
shall never forget the interest which you have manifested in our work 
in the months that have passed since. It is therefore with pleasure 
that I bring to you, in this hour of your rejoicing, the grateful con- 
gratulations of my own church. 

Were I to emphasize a single thought upon this occasion, it would 
be this : the one thing that makes such a gathering as this possible 
is that men are becoming more child-like in their search for the truth. 
There was a time when men held their opinions in a dogmatic way ; 
but dogmatism is fast becoming a thing of the past. 

The progress of science has opened to us a thought of the universe 
which is overwhelming in its immensity. Men have been humiliated 
by finding themselves surrounded by mysteries which they cannot solve ; 
they have learned to think more deeply and truly about the relations 
of this life to the life beyond, and to eternity, and so they have become 



126 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

humbler, more child-like. We have still our own views of truth, but 
we hold them with greater kindliness to others. We are all ready to 
see what neiu light this blessed Bible can throw upon our pathway. 
Like the little Samuel of whom we recently studied, we lift our eyes 
to heaven and say, " Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." 

Thus we come to-night representing our different churches and bring 
our hearty congratulations to this venerable but vigorous church, and 
we wish her " God-speed " for the future. 

Mr. Chairman, I had the pleasure on last Friday of passing a short 
time in the society of one who has for very many years been a member 
of this church, — a venerable woman, — whose very name, were I to 
speak it in your presence, would be received by you with bowed heads 
and reverent hearts. She spoke of the past history of this church and 
of God's great goodness, and she said, " It does not seem possible that 
a church which has been preserved so long and blessed so wonderfully 
can ever cease to exist. Do you not believe that God will bless us 
still ? " 

Take these words, I pray you, as a prophecy of your future. 

Grounded upon the rock, Jesus Christ, being bold in the defence of 
the truth, lifting high the banner of the cross, you shall prosper in the 
future even more than in the past. May God bless you, brethren ! 

The closing address at the services, by Rev. George B. Spalding, 
D. D., recent pastor, was as follows : — 

" For the thuigs which a7-e seen are temporal ; but the things which are not seen 
are eternal" 

No stronger verification of this mighty truth need be found than that 
which the circumstances which have brought us here afford. We are 
met here, a great multitude, with an absorbing interest which engages 
our minds, memories, and imaginations in an event which took place a 
quarter of a thousand years ago. And yet we search in vain for one of 
those many outward objects which at that time entered into a scene 
which we count of surpassing moment, and which, with such high and 
solemn service, we have sought to-day to celebrate. The homes of 
that early time, — no vestige of them remains. Their very foundations 
have been lost in the common dust. The church which strong hands 
hewed from the primeval forest, — no beam nor stone of it can anywhere 
be found ; even its site cannot with any confidence be pointed out. 
The Bible and the hymn-book which directed the worship of that first 
service, — no leaf of either remains. And of him, that saintly scholar, 
fresh from the classic shades of the great English university, who here 



ADDRESS BY REV. GEORGE B. SPALDING, D. D. 12/ 

broke for these hungry souls the bread of life, — no lineament of his 
form or feature has been preserved for our grateful contemplation. In 
a recent visit to Cambridge, I sought out in its illustrious cluster of 
colleges the group of stately buildings where this first minister received 
his education. I went in under the imposing gateway of Emmanuel 
College, which enjoyed, with the Sidney Sussex College, the con- 
temptuous title affixed to them by Charles the First of being " nurser- 
ies of Puritanism.'' I walked through the spacious court where young 
Leverich used to hasten in flowing gown to his lectures. I sat down 
under the groined roof where he once kneeled in prayer. I trav- 
ersed the embowered walks of the flowering garden where he must 
often have sauntered, communing with his own thoughts. I entered 
the hall where he once " at commons " sat and ate. I walked through 
the alcoves of the splendid library, and took down from the shelves 
books which once must have filled his hands. But I looked in vain for 
any outward object that might tell me clearly of him, — that might 
bring his own personality within the grasp of some one sense. I 
turned to the ancient, worm-eaten college register. I bent above his 
name, traced with clear hand, " William Leverich "; but even this was 
not written by himself ! And so I went out with the words of the poet 

on my lips, — 

" But oh ! for the touch of a vanished hand 
And the sound of a voice that is still." 

The best thing I could do was to pull an ivy-leaf from the ancient 
wall as the only " thing seen," to help me commemorate him so wholly 
"unseen." But, though the houses of these men, and those who occu- 
pied them, their very graves, and church and hymn, and all that is 
outwardly associated with these persons and events of the past are 
forever gone, the unseen and the spiritual parts of them remain in all 
their undimmed freshness, and assert their power over all that is 
noblest and best in us. Through the vista of these centuries we 
behold these men and women under the same irresistible instinct that 
has impelled those of every age and every religion to bring their best 
things to God, — we behold these men and women bringing their "glory 
and honor" into their log temple. We behold the minister in the full 
vigor of his manly prime, with gown and band, and Bible in hand, mov- 
ing past the armed sentinels by the church door, and, in the presence 
of the risen congregation, taking his place in the rude pulpit, and with 
extended arms invoking upon them and their sacred enterprise the 
blessings of heaven. The hymns are doubtless those of the Bay 
Psalm-Book, with their roughness of language and versification. They 
are given out line by line by some leader, and are chanted in loud 



128 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

voice by the whole congregation. We hear it all, — the long, stately- 
sermon, flavored with Scripture phrase and awesome spirit. We hear 
the prayers, so majestic in praise, humble in confession, exultant in 

faith. And 

" We hear again the solemn voice 
Of the unending song." 

So imagination sketches the outlines and features of those early 
scenes. But it is a ghostly picture. And yet, amidst all this that is so 
vague and airy, there are things clear and strong and enduring. Out 
of this dim vision of the past there has been a survival of principles 
which time has only clarified, strengthened, and made immortal. 
Even with the disappearance of the outward, with the death of pastor 
and people, with the crumbling away into everlasting obscurity of home 
and church, the invisible spirit which dwelt in them has enshrined 
itself in new homes and churches and prayers and songs. So true it 
is that the " things unseen," be they infused with any real religious life 
whatever, are eternal. Through all these years of death and change 
and forgetfulness, that prayer which vibrated from the lips of those 
who prayed and sang in that first service, in that first rude church, has 
been swelling out into larger and sweeter worship from generation to 
generation, repeated still by us, and merging itself into the "halle- 
lujahs and seven-fold symphonies of heaven." 

" This one accent of the Holy Ghost 
Our heedless world hath never lost." 

And then again how diffusive has been this unseen but eternal prin- 
ciple represented by these vanished and forgotten men and women ! 
Looking at the church thus so feebly born, how it has strengthened its 
stakes and enlarged its borders, untouched by time, asserting itself 
with an ever-clearer utterance in the community and State, more vigor- 
ous and strong in every last stage of its growth, and, like the tree 
planted by the ever-running waters, " bringing forth fruit in old age." 
But its prolific life has not been kept within itself. This church has 
been rightly called a "mother church." She has established from her 
membership nearly every Congregational church in this vicinity, and 
strengthened from it almost every Congregational church in the State. 
And more than this, even with no such intention, and perhaps not 
willingly, she has sent forth from her inexhaustible loins children who 
have built up, even in her very presence, churches of other orders, 
who have now come back to her, for one brief hour at least, and 
through their representatives stand up before her and call her 
" blessed." 



ADDRESS BY REV. GEORGE B. SPALDING, D. D. 1 29 

It is a great thing to stand in the current of such a history, — to be 
a part of it. The fellowship of the Uving is sweet. The fellowship 
of the dead is grand and inspiring. This afternoon, as the story of 
these fathers' and mothers' faith, their hardships, their heart-rending 
sufferings, and their heroic endurances and sacrifices were being told 
in that grand discourse, I felt as never before the honor and the 
inspiration that there are in being linked in any way to such a past. 
Somehow all this sweeping tide of prayer and consecration, of exalted 
faith, of victory over defeat, of holy personal living and dying, and 
eternal blessedness beyond, seemed to surge in the very souls of the 
living, and to enter as mightiest spiritual forces into our very charac- 
ters. For one, I thanked God that in his providence he had permitted 
me to pass so many of the years of my life in such close, vital union 
with a church of so long a past, made up of such noble struggle, of 
such persistent faith, and of such saintly living. I count it as a thing 
to bless God for, that I have been permitted to stand in the ranks of 
such a shining line of ministers of Christ. I recall with profoundest 
feeling that I am one of only three of the ministers of this church 
who are on earth to-night. I love to think of my being joined to a 
brotherhood which has so large a majority in heaven. Brief is the 
space that divides us. All hail ! fathers and brothers in Christ ; all 
hail ! as you bend above us ! 

And I count it a thing forevermore to thank God for, that, in these 
fourteen years that are past, I have been brought into such close com- 
munion with men and women of such large minds, of such generous 
spirit, of such strong, healthy, Christian living as I have found in this 
church. Many of them remain until this day, thank God ! And I 
would here renew my expressions of gratitude for all the kindness, 
patience, and love you have shown me in the past ; and I would renew, 
too, my pledges of affection and loyalty to you for all the future. 

And as for the dead, — somehow they are more with me than are 
you, the living. Their faces, I see more clearly ; their voices, I catch 
the music of them more distinctly ; their smiles, they break upon me 
more gently than any from you before me. Can I forget them, — 
they who sat here looking up at me with inspiring faces ? They are 
dead ; and sometimes I thank God for that, for death has only brought 
them nearer; death has only made more real the communion once so 
sweet below. 

And are they not here with us to-night, filling all the spaces above 
us, even a great cloud of witnesses, from the first, who, centuries ago, 
went up from their struggles and sacrifices, to the last, who but yester- 
day, in serenity of soul, vanished into the endless peace of heaven ? 



130 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

" Sweet spirits round us ! Watch us still, 

Press nearer to our side ; 
Into our thoughts, into our prayers. 

With gentle helpings guide. 
Let death between us be as naught, 

A dried and vanished stream ; 
Your joy be the reality, 

Our suffering life the dream." 

And so, dear friends, as we go down to-night from this high com- 
muning with the past, and with the blessed dead, let it be to take up the 
services to which God has appointed us with a fresh joy and inspira- 
tion. Let the visible sink more and more from our view and our 
striving. Let the immeasurable worthiness of noble living, of stead- 
fast faith in God, of loyalty to truth and to each other, fill all our 
thought and enlist all our endeavors. We are marching on in a glori- 
ous procession, whose foremost banners and shouts of victory are far 
within the jasper walls. Step by step, let us follow on until at last 
the shining gates be reached, and we, with our waving banners and 
songs of triumph, "enter in to go no more out forever." 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS SENT UPON THE MEMORIAL 

OCCASION. 



From Rev. Benjamin F, Parsons, former pastor : — 

Derry, N. H., 28 October 1883 Your kind invitation to be 

present, and take part in the services of the two hundred and fiftieth 
anniversary of the First Parish, I should be happy to comply with, did 
not a previous engagement prevent. 

Regretting my inability to be present, I send you for substance 
what I should say on that interesting occasion : — 

Among the many anniversaries that have been celebrated for some 
years past commemorating events in the forming period of the Ameri- 
can nation, it seems peculiarly appropriate that the influence of the 
Congregational church, out of which came our republican government 
and its institutions, should be gratefully remembered. 

Especially should the important service not be forgotten which this 
First Church in Dover rendered in securing the Independence of the 
nation, through the essays and letters of its Revolutionary pastor. Dr. 
Belknap, which were by him so widely disseminated throughout the 
Colonies. And the Congregational pulpit of Dover, from that day to 
this, has ever been loyal to the best interests of the nation and her in- 
stitutions, upholding every true reform, whether popular or not, for the 
time being. But I need only refer to these matters, as they have doubt- 
less been fully set forth in the historical address. 

Into the line of that ministry of two hundred and fifty years, you 
were pleased, as a church and parish, to call me thirty-two years since, 
and you doubtless expect me to touch upon events connected with my 
own ministry. 

Of the three former pastors now living, I am!reminded that I am the 
oldest in the service of this church, if not in age. Very pleasant mem- 
ories of that service come crowding upon me, as I look back upon the 
past. Coming to you in my youth, and with but little experience in 
the ministry, having served as a home missionary only a few years on 
the frontier, you received me very kindly. Your warm expressions of 
sympathy and thoughtfulness in my feeble health during that first year 



132 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

of my labors will never be forgotten. I recall the cheering words and 
kind acts of whole-hearted, earnest brethren and sisters who were then 
pillars in this church. They are not with you to-day : they are wor- 
shipping in the upper sanctuary. 

When I came to this church, this house of worship had just been 
fitted up anew, and the congregation gathered here was very large, 
every pew on the floor and in the galleries occupied. Some of you 
who were present at my installation will recollect, that, in view of this 
fact, the chief portion of the " Address to the People," by Rev. Mr. 
Toby, of Durham, was an earnest exhortation to the congregation to 
enter at once upon the work of founding a second church for the grow- 
ing Congregational interests in Dover. 

That exhortation, always kept in mind by some of the people, and 
attempted to be realized by other measures, brought forth its legiti- 
mate fruit four years later by the organization of the Belknap Con- 
gregational church. 

Your timely contribution to the church which I had just left in Illi- 
nois, to aid them in erecting a house of worship, gladdened their hearts, 
encouraged them to arise and build, and thus save themselves from 
ecclesiastical death. 

But I call to mind scenes of more tender and thrilling interest, when 
the constraining love of Christ led young men and young women to 
come out from the congregation and consecrate themselves to his 
service. Some of those persons are still with you, earnest laborers in 
the cause of Christ. Others are elsewhere, workers in the vineyard 
of the Lord, while others have been called to higher duties in the king- 
dom of God above. 

From Rev. Avery S. Walker, d. d., former pastor : — 
Spencer, Mass., 25 October 1883. — Dear Fathers and Mothers in 
Israel, Brethren, Sisters, and Friends, — I shall ever regard it as one of 
the misfortunes of my life that I find myself unable to be with you in 
the very impressive and joyous celebration of the coming Sabbath. 
It is only with the greatest reluctance, and after repeated failures to 
arrange to be absent from home, that I am constrained at last to give 
up the hope of being present in person, and to content myself with 
sending so imperfect a substitute as this letter must needs be. . . . 

Can I ever, till the very latest hour of my life, forget that pleasant 
afternoon of July, 1864, when first I came to your ancient town .? Was 
this indeed the good old town that I read about in early colonial history 
as " Cochecho, afterwards called Dover " ? Was this indeed the Dover 
which once suffered such cruel massacre and pillage at the hands of 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS, 1 33 

hostile savages, " many houses being burned, much property being 
plundered, twenty-three persons being killed, and twenty-nine being 
carried away captive " ? Was it indeed here that Major Waldron once 
had lived, the incidents of whose tragic death had so thrilled • me in 
childhood ? and might I here meet some of his descendants, and bear- 
ing the same famil}' name ? And were the ruins of the old block- 
houses, which once served such good purpose for defence, still to be 
seen standing in the suburbs ? 

. , . The result of my being with you on that and the following 
Sabbath was that a call was kindly extended to me, and that shortly 
afterward I came among you as your pastor. I came to you with all 
the weakness and inexperience which every young minister must needs 
have, but with the consciousness of a strong desire and an earnest pur- 
pose to do all that in my power lay for the upbuilding of our blessed 
Redeemer's kingdom. I feel very sure that my inexperience must have 
called for the frequent exercise of the grace of forbearance on your part. 
But your great kindness and patience were equal to my great need. 
You accepted my earnest purpose rather than the incomplete fulfilment 
thereof ; and ever, so long as life shall last, shall I gratefully remember 
your warm sympathy, your sincere love, your heartfelt prayers, and 
your earnest co-operation in the great work. 

And it is pleasant for me here to recall the fact that, as the result of 
our mutual prayers and efforts, we were favored with the special and 
gracious outpouring of God's Holy Spirit, so that, on looking over the 
record, I find that scarcely a communion season passed in which we 
were not privileged to welcome new-born souls to the table of our 
common Lord. . . . 

I find, as I sit here in my study to-da}^, that your forms and faces 
come to me as freshly as if it were but yesterday that I uttered the 
word of farewell, taking for my text, as I recollect, the last words of 
Paul to his Thessalonian brethren, "The grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ be with you. Amen." I seem ever to see you in the very 
pews in which you used to sit, and clad in your accustomed garb, and 
I note the devout expression of your faces as together we lift up heart 
and voice in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God. And, further 
than that, though all these years have passed, I can follow you as you 
go to your pleasant homes, when, at length, the services are ended. 
I think I could go through every street in all the city, and out on all 
the roads leading thence, and not miss so much as a single house in 
which any of you used to reside, in case it still be standing. And 
even more than this. I think I can perfectly remember the family and 
individual experiences of you all. At how many of your homes have I 



134 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

Stood in the hour of your great bereavement and sorrow, and as you 
were about to lay your dear ones away in their long and silent resting- 
place ! 

My heart goes out very strongly toward you to-day, and I greatly 
rejoice with you in the hour of your great rejoicing. Two hundred 
and fifty happy, prosperous years ! These are indeed many years for 
any church to see. But may the grand old First Church of Dover see 
as many more, and many times as many more ; and may each new 
year be more happy and prosperous than any that has gone before ! 
I take you each by the hand to-day. I look once more into your dear, 
familiar faces. I call you each by name. 

'* Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : they shall prosper that love thee. 
Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces. For my 
brethren and companions' sake, I will now say, Peace be within thee. 
Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good." 

From Rev. Charles Dame, formerly of this parish : — 
Andover, Mass., 26 October 1883. — I exceedingly regret that I am 
unable to accept your kind invitation to be present on the occasion to 
which you refer. It is now more than fifty years since I united with 
your church. And since that time, as well as in years that went be- 
fore, this church has stood out prominently among other churches, sur- 
rounding it as a tower of strength, as a power in the community. It 
has been a highly favored church. Its great Head has shown peculiarly 
marked evidences of his approval. Glorious displays of divine grace 
have been shown it. Seasons of gracious refreshings from the pres- 
ence of the Lord has it enjoyed, — revival seasons, when almost the 
entire community seemed stirred, and ready to accept offered mercy. 
Never, perhaps, was a church more favored than has been this in 
the godly, faithful men who have ministered to it in holy things. 
Of the number who have been pastors of the church during the last 
half-century, those whom I best knew were the gentlemanly, urbane. 
Christian man, the Rev. Hubbard Winslow, a man who had power 
as few can have to sway the multitude and carry conviction to the 
most obdurate hearts, — a man whose untimely departure from the 
scene of his abundant labor and glorious promise caused mourning 
and grief to many a heart. 

The other, whose memory is still reverently cherished, was the 
gifted preacher, the eloquent orator. Rev. David Root. As a stu- 
dent or teacher, I was privileged with sitting under the instruction 
of these two men, and from their preaching I trust I have derived 
lasting benefit. 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 135 

The ministry of other men equally great and equally good has 
your church enjoyed; but I had less acquaintance with them. Pleas- 
ant memories have I also of others, private members of the church. 
I remember the delight they took in the house of God, the delight 
those good people took and interest they manifested in the erection 
of the noble structure in which you now worship God, — noble for 
those days. The elegant language and the noble Christian utter- 
ances on the day of its dedication still ring in the ears of the liv- 
ing few who heard them. As in the past, may God still continue 
to bless this church, greatly enlarge it, and make it a power for good ! 
With fraternal regards, yours. 

From Rev. John Colby, formerly of this parish : — 

FiTZWiLLiAM, N. H,, 27 October 1883. — Ever since the purpose 
was announced to observe this anniversary, I have looked forward to it 
with much interest, and hoped that I might be present to share the 
pleasures and profits of the occasion ; but by providential circum- 
stances I am prevented the fulfilment of this anticipation. 

It seems now strange to me that I can make the statement, — and 
yet it is true, — that my acquaintance with the First Parish covers 
nearly a fifth of its long history. 

I went to Dover a small boy, more than fifty years ago. My first 
religious impressions were not then and there received. They were 
received earlier, in a Christian home, from now sainted parents. But 
it is a continual joy to me, that, early going on to Dover, I was providen- 
tially led into a family of the First Parish. The head of that family 
was a Christian widow. She impressed me strongly with the religion 
of Christ by living it. She led the way to the house of God by a con- 
stant example, and by her reverence and affection for the services. 
Her life impressed me with the goodly fruit borne upon that tree. It 
was a sad hour to me in which it was said, " She is not, for God hath 
taken her." 

More than forty years ago, I was admitted to the " First Church," — 
celebrating in that way the 4th of July. It was one of the best " Inde- 
pendence" days I ever spent. Certainly I recall no one with greater 
satisfaction. I remained a member until dismissed to join the church 
of my first pastorate. I shall never cease to recall with gratitude the 
great blessing I have received from the instructions of its pulpit and 
the Christian lives and labors of its members. Among these members, 
I found true fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters. To live so 
close to those members and their families as it was my privilege to do 
for years I count among the rich blessings of my life, and it was laying 
up a good store for memory. 



136 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

The first minister, of my knowledge, there was (as we commonly 
called him) Parson Root. He impressed me wonderfully by his manly 
form and bearing. Looking at him through my eyes, a stranger might 
have said, on meeting him, " That is one of the noblest ministers of his 
time. Or if not a minister, then a senator, — not one of the senators 
made by a gold or silver mine, or by millions of money, but by brains 
and character. Or if not a senator, then a general, and greater, even, 
than Scott." So did he seem to me. There will be some present, no 
doubt, on this occasion, who will recall the mighty force of utterance 
given to his deep convictions ; and they will recall the early, independ- 
ent, manly, prophetic Christian words he spoke in the rising anti- 
slavery agitation. How little he knew for what victories, through 
suffering, his words and labors were preparing ! 

His successor. Rev. J. S. Young, full of Christian zeal and sympathy 
and devotion, will be remembered with profound gratitude by many of 
us as the instrument by which we were quickened to a spiritual life and 
led to a Christian profession. 

I have known their successors, some intimately, all somewhat, 
and have loved them for their Christian character and their faithful 
ministry in the First Parish. It would be a great privilege for me, with 
you, to look into the faces of the living ; or, with you, to recall, in the 
place of their labors, the faithful dead, in this succession of pastors. 

And hardly less a privilege, in the place where their life's work was 
done, to recall the names of individuals and families who were for 
years the pillars of the First Church. How often the names will 
come to me of Peirce, Porter, Woodman, Wheeler, Wallace, Freeman, 
Smith, Banfield, Quint, Drew, Alden, Low, Green, Paul, Welch, 
Varney, — men and women of the First Church who belonged to a list 
too long for present naming, — to whom my debt for their social and 
Christian influence and helpfulness I cannot express ! I hope I am not 
wanting in gratitude for the privilege that has been mine, of their 
friendly and Christian intercourse. They rest from their labors. But 
there is a long list of names of the living, no less dear to me. It is not 
for me here to repeat those names. I am thankful that I ever knew 
them. I do not, the First Parish does not, Dover does not, know 
how to spare them. May they long abide amid these scenes and labors 
before they join the great multitude upon the other shore ! In thinking 
of those gone and those who are passing on, the thought is with me 
that the power of divine grace shall not be wanting. What it has done 
to mould the life in the past, it may do, it will do, even to a greater 
degree, with the lives of the young, so that these fountains shall be 
kept full and pure, though the streams therefrom are flowing constantly 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. I37 

to bless the world and to the great ocean of life. How I would love 
to look into the faces and hear the voices of these loved friends of the 
First Parish on this anniversary occasion ! 

It would be no little gratification to me to meet the stalwart man and 
Christian minister who will review the past with you, and be reminded 
of the days when we sat together in the Sabbath school, where, in the 
study of the Word, the Lord was leading him as he knew not. The 
water-pot was being filled : the Master was to turn the water into wine. 
And also to be reminded of the season when this stalwart Christian 
minister (he will pardon me for these personal allusions) was " halt- 
ing between two opinions." The grace of God working by the prayers 
and labors and lives of the members of the First Church, will bring 
forth much of such fruit. 

From Rev. George W. Sargent, formerly of this parish : — 

Granite Falls, Minn., 23 October 1883. — Accept my thanks for 
your kind invitation to the proposed anniversar}^ of the parish of my 
childhood. The great distance compels me to resort to a brief letter 
instead of actual participation. 

In the memoiy of the former days, and of many facts and faces fresh 
to mind, I greet you. Clear and vivid to mind to-day is the church as 
it was twenty-five to forty years ago (can it be so long ago ?), when I, 
from childhood to manhood, worshipped with you. How much that 
Christian fellowship became to me ! for what character I have is largely 
the outgrowth of it. 

This occasion recalls to me first of all my sainted mother, to whom 
I am sure I owe the jDlanting of the seed of quickening truth, in the 
maturing of which the old church was an important factor. It brings 
before me, also, my more silent but truly Christian father, who weekly 
led me with distinguished regularity to the house of God, until I learned 
to go from love of it. They are with God ; and how can I fail to honor 
their influence and character ? I will not withhold, also, the proper 
tribute to the Sabbath school, which held me for more than a half-score 
years, and whose most valued agent for my help was my venerable 
teacher of the later years, Asa Freeman. I honor that genial. Chris- 
tian lawyer who thought it his worthy task to teach his " boys " of 
Christ. To my pastors, I doubtless owe much more. The influence of 
Pastor Young upon my childhood years was very positive and good, 
and the indistinct memory of his face has a kind of halo upon it, as I 
recall my child-gladness under his smile and words. Pastor Barrows, 
whom I knew so well, and loved much, also wrought well and faithfully 
upon me, though at times, perhaps, with too great severity, yet surely 



138 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

in power and love, and, with the others spoken of, became an instruc- 
tor for my ministry afterwards. I am not loath to attribute much form- 
ative influence, also, to one who, I suppose, still lives to labor, Pastor 
Parsons, with whom I held the intercourse of maturer years, and whose 
ministry was valued. But my native church gave to me one richest 
blessing, whose memory I shall always cherish beyond expression, in 
Pastor Richardson. As my pastor at the time of my most earnest 
student life, his clear mind, rich feeling, honest character, bold thought, 
eloquent utterance, and enthusiasm of faith made him to me the grand 
and loved teacher. And as not only[pastor and teacher, but, by his own 
choice, often a companion and valued adviser about his own trials and 
my then opening work, he wrought his impress upon me, as I think he 
did upon many others, for all their after-work. Would that the minis- 
try found many more such lives as his ! 

And surely I may be allowed to mention one other whose life be- 
came an integral and beneficent part of the church life in all my knowl- 
edge of it, and who may be still, I hope, a valued part of its strength, 
Deacon Lane, — a man whom I surely had good opportunity to know 
in years of close intimacy in his business and his religion, and whose 
character never bore the slightest stain in my thought, who preached 
a better and more persuasive gospel in his pure daily life than many a 
tongue of eloquence has heralded. 

These are the few of whom I ought most to speak as most connected 
with and connecting my own and the church life. Scores of others 
may be as valuably connected with other lives ; but I may not mention 
more. If the future life shall renew the Christian relationships of the 
present, the "grand departed " of the First Church will form a glorious 
company. 

Brethren, I envy you your privilege of this reunion of the living and 
remembrance of the dead. I can only wish the good old Mother Church 
may go on to enlarge her record and fill up the measure of her graces, 
so that the future power may surpass the glories of this grand story 
of two and a half centuries. May none of us, her sons, fail of the 
grace of eternal life, and thus dishonor our birthright ! 

From Edward Ashton Rollins,^ descendant of members of this 
parish : — 

Philadelphia, 25 October 1883. — I received this evening the cir- 
cular of your committee and your personal invitation to attend the 

* Mr. Rollins, late commissioner af internal revenue, perpetuates his name in the gift of a beautiful 
and costly chapel, built of stone, to Dartmouth College. 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS, 1 39 

anniversary services of your church next Sunday. The parish, you 
say, will especially welcome such persons as have hereditary interest 
in the parish of their ancestr}'. 

My children are descended from one of the Hiltons, who settled 
Dover in 1623, some ten years before there was any place of public 
worship there, and went off to York or Newbury before 1633, when 
such place was built. 

He was not an independent, but of the Church of England : so I 
don't really inherit much interest in your church from him. Some 
twenty years or so after that, Mr. James Rawlins, an ancestor of mine, 
living in that part of Dover which is now Newington, was authoritatively 
fined, with cost, taxed at two shillings and sixpence, "for neglect of 
coming into the public meeting," as the record has it, — that is, the 
place of public worship, — and that, too, notwithstanding his distance 
therefrom and the probable hostility of the Indians. How rapidly 
would the treasury of the church or county be replenished, if, in these 
last days in Israel, fines were imposed for such offences ! 

Mr. Rawlins's family may have been in peril from the Red man, or 
he may not have heard the drum which called the worshippers together; 
but, in 1665, another ancestor, Major Richard Waldron, imported from 
England a bell for the church ; and there is no evidence of any subse- 
quent non-attendance on the part of Mr. Rawlins. I ought, you see, to 
have, as I do have, an hereditary interest in the First Parish, and, were 
I not just now sofarfrom Dover, I should be afraid not to be in church 
there next Lord's Day, lest a descendant of James Rawlins should be 
fined for neglect of coming into the public meeting. 

My hereditary interest is further increased by William Wentworth, 
who, about the time of the arrival of the bell, came from Exeter, and, 
as one of the ruling elders, was accustomed to sit near the pulpit of 
the church, wearing a red cap as a badge of his high office. But all 
these things referred to have passed away. 

Were it practicable, I should certainly attend your coming cele- 
bration. Two hundred and fifty years of history ! How near to the 
first English settlement and the first Protestant church in America 
they were, and what changes and what growth they include ! No 
one can outline with approximate accuracy what the history of your 
community would have been without the elevating, purifying, Chris- 
tianizing influence of the First Parish, and no one, therefore, can 
measure or even estimate the good which that church has accom- 
plished. Eight generations have received its ministrations, have 
been taught by it from their infancy, and been solaced by it in sick- 
ness and death. What hopes and expectations it has kindled, and, 



140 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

in disappointment and sorrow, what comfort it has given ! Not in 
Dover only and its neighborhood, and not in New Hampshire alone, 
have been and are its beneficiaries, but they are found here, and in 
New York and Washington and Chicago. Everywhere are those 
whose lives, directly and indirectly, have been enriched and ennobled 
by your good old church. The country is new and youthful still, 
and will grow in population and power for centuries probably. Your 
church outlived the colonial period of the country's history, and out- 
lived the Revolution. It flourished under the Protectorate of Crom- 
well and the constitutional monarchy of England. It lives a church 
without a bishop, and now in a State without a king ; and I trust the 
form of government which the people of the two have chosen will be 
blessed of God for ages to come, that the prosperity and accomplish- 
ment of your church in the past is but an earnest of its brighter future, 
and that it will make yet larger contributions to the glory of God and 
the good of our race. 



APPENDIX. 



I. Protest* from Dover, 4 March 1641, agai?ist annexation to Massachusetts. 

NORTHAM 4. I Moneth. 
Honoured Sir: — 

Wee the Inhabitants of Northam make bould to trouble you w"" theise few 
lynes Certifyinge yo' that wheras wee suppose Captaine Underhill hath in- 
formed yo" & the rest of your brethren of the Matetusheth baye that wee are 
all willinge voluntarily to submit our selues to your gouerment vpon ffor- 
mer Articles propounded ; truth it is wee doe very well aproue of your Judi- 
cious wayes & shalbe very ioyfull if please god to enlarge vs that wee may be 
free from other ingagments & pmises w""" some of vs are obliged in to the own- 
ers or patentees from whom vnder his Mat' Letter Pattents wee enioy our free 
liberty : w""" causeth vs not for present to submit to any other gouerment then 
that w""" wee haue already entred into Combination to obserue acordinge to the 
Kings Mat' lawes vntill such time as the owners come over to vs w"*" wee 
suppose wilbe about three Moneths hence and then our ppositions Considered 
as the Lord shall direct vs wee will labour more to satisfy yo". But for the 
pceedings of Captayne Vnderhill seeking to vndermyne vs and contrary to 
his oath & fidellyty as we suppose intrusted to him hath went from house to 
house & for his owne ende by flattery & threatning gotten some hands to a 
note of their willingnes to submitt themselues vnder your gouerment & some 
of those are men of other Combinations others Strangers that haue noe habita- 
tion to bring his purposes to past, wee doubt not but you are to well acquaynted 
w"" his Stratagems in plotting his owne designes w'*" wee refer to you' 
graue iudgment sume of those that subscribed to his note haue this day 
vtterly ptested against their owne act, for he hath raysed such a Mutinie 
amongst vs w"" if we take not Course for the stopinge therof it maye Cause 
the effusion of blood by reason he hath by his designes privately rent the 
Combination as much as in him lyeth. Contrary to his act that is that wee 
should continue in the same goumt except an agreemt or cause shewed to the 
Contrary in open Court agreed on by the Maior pte. thus Much we thought 
good to acquaynt you' WorP w'^all beseeching you' favorable constructio 
hopinge yo" will weigh ou' Case in equyty & Conscience & not any way to 

* A copy generously made from the original in his possession, by John S. H. Fogg, m. d., of South 
Boston, Mass. 



142 



THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 



enforce vs to any act wherby wee should breake pmise or Couenant w"'the 
patentees or amongst ou' selues w""" in soe doinge we should sinne greatly : 
wee heartyly desire you"" prayers for vs & comit yo" to the ptection of the 
Almightye at yo° [ ] to be comand"*. 



Thorn Larkham. 
William Jones. 
John ffollett. 
Robert Nanney. 
Thomas Durston. 
Thomas Roberts. 
Samuel Haines. 
Bartholomew Smith. 
John Dam, 



the mke of Bartholo- 
mew [V] Hunt. 
William Waldern. 
Sig. John Tuttle. 
Henry beck. 
Thomas [T] Lay ton, m'k. 
Edward Starbuck. 
William Pomfrett. 
William furbur. 



William Storer. 

the marke [H] of John 

Hall. 
Phillip Swaddow. 
Richard Waldern. 
Edward Colcord. 
[R] Sig Robert Huckins. 
Richard Pinkcom. 
Thomas Trickey. 



//. A 2 ax List* of the Year 1659. 



A Raet mad for m' Ran 


ers Prouietion at 2d in the 


po 


Lind 


for Douer 


the 22 : 9; [16] 


59 
































Great Ratet 








Great Rate 


Tho layton 


2 


II 





5 


2 





mr ludecues Edlin 





5 








10 





John Damm sinyer 


I 


10 





3 








James nutt sinyer 





12 


7 


X 


5 


2 


John Hall decon 





18 


6 


I 


17 





Jeremie Tebutt 





13 





I 


6 





will Pomfrett 





12 





I 


4 





Henrey Tebutt 





14 


4 


I 


8 


8 


mr Roberds 





6 


7 





13 


2 


Tho nocke 





8 








16 





Tho downes 





9 








iS 





Jonathan Hillton 





5 








10 





mr Cimball 





10 





I 





c 


Isake Stokes 





5 








10 





mr Edraond Busnall 


2 


3 


4 


4 


6 


8 


Mr Buckner 





8 


4 





16 


8 


Mr Chadwell 


c 


5 








ID 





Raplif Thwamly 





II 


6 


I 


3 





moses Chadwell 





5 








ID 





Thomas Hanson 


I 


5 


4 


2 


10 


8 


Beniamin Chadwell 





5 








ID 





william ferbush 





5 








ID 





John Stathom 





5 








ID 





Elder Starbuck 


I 


13 


4 


3 


6 


8 


Richard Knight 





5 








10 





nathanell Starbuck 





ID 





I 








m'' Clemants 





16 


8 


I 


13 


4 


Roberd Jones 


I 


11 


8 


3 


3 


4 


mr Reaner 


I 


7 


4 


2 


14 


8 


John ash 





5 








10 





Tho Beard 


I 


12 


4 


3 


14 


8 


"Fetter Coffin 


I 


5 





2 


10 





William hakett 





5 








10 





micam [blank] 





5 








10 





William Jones 





5 








10 





Cristin Dalak 





5 








10 





John Tuttell 





5 


4 





10 


8 


welsh Jams Grant 





8 


6 





17 





left Hall 





13 


3 


I 


6 


6 


Fetter Grant 





5 








10 





wedoe storey 





8 


3 





16 


6 


mr Tho wiggin 





19 


2 


I 


18 


4 


Elder nutter 


I 


5 





2 


10 





Gorge Weden 





5 








10 





Tho Caney 


I 


18 


4 


3 


16 


8 


Jeremi marcom 





5 








10 





Tho Roberds 





14 


8 


I 


9 


4 


Fhelep Cromwell 





9 


6 





19 





John Roberds 


I 


6 


8 


2 


13 


4 


Richard Otes 





19 


2 


I 


18 


4 



* This list is an exact copy of the original. 

t The " great rate " was the general town tax. The first three columns of figures (respectively 
pounds, shillings and pence) were the tax for the minister's support. 



TAX LIST OF THE YEAR 1659. 



143 









Great Rate 








Great Rate 


Joseph Astin 


I 


13 


9 


3 


7 


6 


Richard Rooe 





8 








16 





John Hard 


I 


II 


6 


3 


3 





Thomas Treick 





15 


8 


I 


II 


4 


mr Goldwier 


I 


13 


4 


3 


6 


8 


michikell Brane 





9 


4 





18 


8 


his man 





5 








10 





James Ralliens 





17 





I 


14 





Cap* wall den 


4 


II 


2 


9 


2 


4 


Richard Keater 


I 


4 


4 


2 


8 


8 


mr Gorge wallden 





5 


2 





10 


4 


John Bickford 





14 


10 


I 


9 


8 


Elder wentworth 


I 


10 


4 


3 





8 


henry lankster 


I 


9 


2 


2 


iS 


4 


Samewell wentworth 


5 








10 





henry hobes 





19 


4 


I 


18 


8 


Umfrey Varney 





5 








10 





Richard Toser 





6 








12 





John louring 





16 


8 


I 


13 


4 


m' Andrew wiggin 


I 








2 








Will Home 


I 


6 


2 





12 


4 


m' Broghton 





16 


8 


2 


13 


4 


Josephf Sanders 





5 








10 





Gorge vesey 





5 








ID 





William Sheffilld 





ID 


4 


I 





8 


William Smeth 





5 








10 





Tho Payne 





5 


2 





10 


4 


niuin the Scot 





5 








10 





Richard Morgin 





6 


8 





13 


4 


James keid 





5 








10 





Sargant Hall 


2 


3 


4 


4 


6 


8 


laserres Permet 





5 








10 





William ffurber 


I 


4 


8 


2 


9 


4 


William Tomson 





5 








10 





Antoney nutter 


I 


8 


3 


2 


16 


6 


Jedediae Andres 





9 


4 





18 


8 


John Dam Juner 





12 





I 


4 




















The prices of the prouetions: 

Bef at 3d p lb 
pork at 4d p lb 
wheat 5s p boshell 
Pease 4s p bosh 
malt 6s p bosh 
Barle 5s 6d p bosh 
buter 6d p lb 
Chese at prise Corant 



These prouetions are to be brought in 
to mr Reaners forthwith after demand 
heir of and apon non performanc heir 
of we give our Constabell full power to 
straine apon eurey Delinquent for thear 
defeckt. 



The Oyster River people at that time had a separate meeting, and 
paid a separate tax : — 

03'Ster Riuer Prouition Rate maed the 22 : 9 : [i6]59. 











the; 










the 












g 


reat Rate 






great 


Rate 






£ 


s 


d 


£ 


s 


d 




£ 


s 


d 


£ 


s 


d 


M' Hill 


2 


12 


8 


5 


5 


4 


Phellep Chesly 


I 


12 


8 


3 


5 


4 


Thomas umrie the 














Roberd Junkes 





8 


4 





16 


8 


stiller 





8 


4 





16 


8 


James Jackson 





5 








10 





John meader 





13 


4 


I 


6 


8 


Walter Jackson 





5 








10 





william Graues 





5 








10 





William Beard 


2 


7 


8 


4 


15 


4 


Einsin lonhn Danes 





15 





I 


10 





John woodman 





15 







10 





Juner william will- 














Patrick Jemeson 





15 







ID 





yams 





8 








16 





Henrey Browne 





10 













James Bunker 





8 








16 





Thomas Dowty 





10 













Will follett 


I 








2 








James Oer 





10 













Thomas Jonson 





13 


4 


I 


6 


8 


James medellman 





10 














144 



THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 





£ 


s 


d 


£ 


s 


d 




£ 


s 


d 


£ 


s 


d 


Edward Arwin 


o 


ID 





I 








Richard Braye 





6 


ID 





13 


8 


John Barber 


o 


5 








ID 





John Hill 





6 


8 





13 


4 


Edward Patterson 


o 


ID 





I 








Thomas footman 


I 


3 


4 


2 


6 


8 


Roberd Bernom 


I 


6 


8 


2 


13 


4 


Richard yorke 





19 


4 


I 


18 


8 


William Pitman 


o 


lO 





I 








John martin 





18 





I 


16 





"William Roberds 


o 


10 





I 








John Godder 


I 


14 


8 


3 


9 


4 


William Willyams 














Beniamen Hull 





8 


4 





16 


8 


sin 


I 


5 


8 


2 


II 


4 


John Hillton 





6 


8 





13 


4 


Thomas Steuenson 


o 


13 


4 


I 


6 


8 


James Nutt Juner 





5 








ID 





William Drew 


o 


II 


8 


I 


3 


4 


Olleuer kent 





8 


4 





16 


8 


Rice howell 





5 








ID 





John hance 





5 








ID 





Joseph filld 


o 


8 


4 





16 


8 


John Diuill 





5 








10 





Matthew Gills 


I 


6 


8 


2 


13 


4 


Roberd Hussey 





5 








10 





mathew willyams 


o 


ID 


6 


I 


I 





William Risley 





5 








10 





Beniamen mathews 


I 


5 





2 


10 





Thomas Green 





5 








ID 





Charlls Adames 


o 


13 





I 


6 


8 


Steuen y* westin- 














John Bickford 


I 


6 


8 


2 


13 


4 


man 





5 








10 





Thomas welley 


o 


18 


4 


I 


16 


8 


Will Jones 





S 








ID 





John Allt 


o 


19 


10 


I 


19 


8 

















III. Conveyance of the present Meeting-House Lot. 

TO ALL PEOPLE to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting Know 
you that I Joseph Hanson Esq' of Dover in y° Prov° of New Hamp* in New 
England Gent" for & in consideration of y" Sum of Six Hundred Pounds Old 
Tenor to me in Hand before y° Ensealing hereof well & truly paid by Messr* 
John Hayes John Wood Shadrach Hodgdon & Daniel Ham Deacons of y* 
Church of Christ in Dover Feoffees in Trust for a certain Society hereafter 
mentioned y° Receipt I do hereby Acknowledge & thereof do Acquit & dis- 
charge them y" s* Hayes Wood Hodgdon & Ham & their Heirs forever 
Have given Granted Bargained & Sold & by these Presents do freely fully 
& absolutely Give grant Bargain Sell aliene convey & confirm unto him y* s* 
Jn° Hayes Jn° Wood Shadrach Hodgdon & Dan'' Ham & to their successors 
in y" Office of Deacon or Deacons & in y' Trust for y" Society afores** A cer- 
tain Parcel of land lying & being in Dover afores* on y* North Westerly 
side of y° main road that leads from Dover Neck to Cochecha Bridge & on 
y° North Easterly side of y' road that leads from y* afores* road to Little- 
worth containing one fourth Part of an acre of forty Square rods butted & 
bounded as followeth (viz') Beginning by y° afores* main road two rods & 
an half from y° South Easterly Corner of s* Hanson's land & from thence 
runing North forty four Degrees East as s* Road runs Eight rods from 
thence runing North forty six Degrees West five rods [to] a Stake from 
thence runing South forty four Degrees West Eight rods to a Stake & 
from thence runing South forty six Degrees East five rods to y* first men- 
tioned bounds which s* land is hereby conveyed unto y" afores' Deacons 
and their Successors in s* Office forever as Feoffees in trust for y° afores* 
Church & Regular Congregation & Society of Dissentiors from y° Estab- 



LIST OF WARDENS OF THE FIRST PARISH. I45 

lished Church of England in s"" Town of Dover & Shall be to y* Sole Use 
Benefit & Behoof of s'' Society forever to Erect or Build thereon a Meeting 
House or Meeting Houses as they Shall Sec nt for y' PubUck Worship of 
God & therein from time to time to Attend & Perform y* Duties of Publick 
Worship According to Order of y* Gospel without Let trouble or Moles- 
tation from any Person or Persons whatsoever To Have & Hold y' s* 
Granted & Bargained Premises together with all their Appurtenances to 
them y' s^ Deacons & their Successors in s* Office forever as Trustees for y* 
Society afores* as a good & Absolute Estate of Inheritance forever & I y' s* 
Joseph Hanson for myself my Heirs Execu" & Admin" do Covenant & En- 
gage y* aforegoing Premises to them y' s'^ Jn° Hayes Jn°. Wood Shadrach 
Hodgdon & Daniel Ham Deacons & to their Successors in s^Office forever 
as feeoffees in Trust for y" Society afores* against y* lawful claims & De- 
mands of any Person or Persons whatsoever forever after to warrant Secure 
& Defend by these Presents In Witness whereof I do hereunto set my 
hand & Seal this loth day of July Anno Domini 1758 & m y" 32'' year of his 

Maj» Reign. 

Joseph Hanson [Seal] 
Sign'd Sealed & Delivered 
In y° Presenc of us 
Tho' Wallingsford 
Eleazar Young Jun' 

Prov*. of New Hamp'. Dover July lo"" 1758 

Then y' abovenamed Joseph Hanson Esq' Personally Appearing before me 
y' Subscriber & Acknowledged y' within & foregoing Instrument to be his 
free Act & deed Tho' Wallingsford Just. Pacis 

Received & Recorded is"" June 1759 

D Peirce Rec' 
[Rockingham Registry of Deeds, Vol. 58, page 191.] 

IF. List* of Wardens of the First Parish. 

Prior to the incorporation of the parish as distinct from the town, 
its business was transacted by the selectmen and other town officers. 
From its incorporation, in 1762, "wardens" were chosen annually, 
almost always in March, after the election in 1762, which was in Au- 
gust. The following is a list year by year : — 

1762. Nathaniel Kimball, Lt. Shadrach Hodgdon, Dea. Daniel Ham. 

1763. Capt. John Gage, Lt. Dudley Watson, Lt. Joshua Wingate. 

1764. Jonathan Hayes, Stephen Evans, John Titcomb. 

1765. Humphrey Hanson, Moses Ham, Jonathan Hayes. 

1766. Samuel Emerson, Ichabod Hayes, Thomas Westbrook Waldron. 

1767. Moses Ham (Capt. John Gage declined), Lt. Joshua Wingate (Capt. How- 

ard Henderson declined), Capt. Thomas Westbrook Waldron. 

1768. Otis Baker, Esq., James Young, Richard Kimball. 

* For this list I am indebted to John R. Ham, M. D. 



146 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

1769. John Kielle, John Waldron, 3d, Moses Wingate, jr. 

1770. Moses Wingate, jr., Capt. John Gage, Job Clements. 

1771. Moses Wingate, jr., Capt. John Gage, Ichabod Home. 

1772. Job Clements, Capt. John Gage, Moses Wingate, jr. 

1773. Nathaniel Cooper, Ephraim Kimball, Moses Wingate. 

1774. Benjamin Titcomb, Nathaniel Cooper, Benjamin Church. 

1775. Benjamin Titcomb, Aaron Wingate, Benjamin Church. 

1776. Aaron Wingate, Benjamin Peirce, Benjamin Church. 

1777. Benjamin Peirce, Aaron Wingate, Ensign Samuel Heard. 

1778. Aaron Wingate, Benjamin Peirce, Ensign Samuel Heard. 

1779. Aaron Wingate, Ensign Samuel Heard, Benjamin Peirce. 

1780. Ensign Samuel Heard, Benjamin Peirce, Moses Wingate. 

1781. Moses Wingate, Samuel Heard, Thomas Shannon. 

1782. Samuel Kielle, Capt. James Libbey, John Ham. 
17S3. Samuel Kielle, John Ham, Capt. James Libbey. 

1784. Dr. Ezra Green, Capt. James Libbey, Major Benjamin Titcomb. 

1785. Capt. James Libbey (resigned in July), Capt. John Gage, Joseph Richard- 

son (resigned in July), John B. Hanson, Major Ebenezer Tebbets. 

1786. Ebenezer Tebbets, Dr. Ezra Green, Major Benjamin Titcomb. 

1757. Dr. Ezra Green, Major Ebenezer Tebbets, Col. Benjamin Titcomb. 

1758. Capt. Moses Wingate, Ensign Samuel Heard, Dodavah Ham. 

1759. Capt. Moses Wingate, Dodavah Ham, Dea. Benjamin Peirce. 

1790. Capt. Moses Wingate, Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Ezekiel Hayes. 

1 791. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Capt. Moses Wingate, Ezekiel Hayes. 

1792. Aaron Roberts, Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Capt. Moses Wingate. 

1793. I^ea. Benjamin Peirce, Andrew Torr, Dominicus Hanson. 

1794. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Andrew Torr, Dominicus Hanson. 

1795. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Andrew Torr, Dominicus Hanson. 

1796. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Andrew Torr, Dominicus Hanson. 

1797. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Dominicus Hanson, Andrew Torr. 

1798. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Dominicus Hanson, Andrew Torr. 

1799. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Andrew Torr, Dominicus Hanson. 

1800. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Andrew Torr, Dominicus Hanson. 

1801. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Andrew Torr, Dominicus Hanson. 

1802. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Andre\V Torr, Dominicus Hanson. 

1803. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Dominicus Hanson, Philemon Chandler. 

1S04. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, (Andrew Torr declined,) Dominicus Hanson, Phile- 
mon Chandler. 

1805. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Dominicus Hanson, Philemon Chandler. 

1806. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Dominicus Hanson, Ezra Young. 

1807. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Dominicus Hanson, Ezra Young. 
180S. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Dominicus Hanson, Ezra Young. 

1809. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Dominicus Hanson, Ezra Young. 

1810. Dea. Benjamin Peirce, Dominicus Hanson, Ezra Young. 

181 1. Dominicus Hanson, John W. Hayes, Moses Hodgdon 

1812. Dominicus Hanson, Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes 

1813. Dominicus Hanson, Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes. 

1814. Dominicus Hanson, Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes. 

181 5. Moses Hodgdon, Dominicus Hanson, John Wingate Hayes. 

1816. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 



LIST OF WARDENS OF THE FIRST PARISH. I47 

1817. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 

1818. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 

18 19. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 

1820. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 

1821. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 
1S22. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 

1823. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 

1824. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 

1825. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 

1826. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 

1827. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 

1828. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 

1829. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 

1830. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 

1831. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman. 

1832. Moses Hodgdon, John W. Hayes, William Woodman, John Riley, Andrew 

Peirce. 

1833. Moses Hodgdon, John Riley, Andrew Peirce. 

1834. William Palmer, John H. Wheeler, William Plaisted Drew. 

1835. William Plaisted Drew, John H. Wheeler, Joshua Banfield. 

1836. William Plaisted Drew, Samuel Wyatt, Hosea Sawyer. 

1837. Hosea Sawyer, Nathaniel Low, Francis Cogswell. 

1838. Francis Cogswell, Samuel Wyatt, Rufus Flagg. 

1839. Rufus Flagg, William Plaisted Drew, Asa Freeman. 

1840. Asa Farnsworth, Edmund J. Lane, William Plaisted Drew. 

1841. Edmund J. Lane, William Plaisted Drew, William L. Chandler. 

1842. Edmund J. Lane, William Plaisted Drew, William L. Chandler. 

1843. Edmund J. Lane, William Plaisted Drew, William L. Chandler. 

1844. Edmund J. Lane, William Plaisted Drew, William L. Chandler. 

1845. Edmund J. Lane, William Plaisted Drew, William L. Chandler. 

1846. Edmund J. Lane, William Plaisted Drew, William L. Chandler. 

1847. Edmund J. Lane, William Plaisted Drew, William L. Chandler. 

1848. Amos Sargent, Peter Gushing, 2d, Charles Woodman (George Quint declined). 

1849. Peter Gushing, 2d, Silas Moody, Josiah Hall. 

1850. Peter Gushing, 2d, Silas Moody, John H. Wheeler. 

1851. Peter Gushing, 2d, Silas Moody, John H. Wheeler. 

1852. Peter Gushing, 2d, Silas Moody, Joshua Banfield. 

1853. Joshua Banfield, William L. Chandler, Isaac A Porter. 

1854. Joshua Banfield, William L. Chandler, Isaac A. Porter. 
1S55. Peter Gushing, 2d, Silas Moody, John B. Sargent. 

1856. John B. Sargent, Joseph W. Welch, Joseph Mann. 

1857. Joseph W. Welch, John B. Sargent, Joseph Mann. 

1858. Edmund J. Lane, Joseph W. Welch, Joseph Mann. 

1859. Edmund J. Lane, Joseph W. Welch, Joseph Mann. 
i860. Edmund J. Lane, Oliver Wyatt, Joseph Mann. 

1861. Edmund J. Lane, Oliver Wyatt, Joseph Mann. 

1862. Edmund J. Lane, Joshua G. Hall, Joseph Mann. 

1863. Edmund J. Lane, Joshua G. Hall, Joseph Mann. 

1864. Edmund J. Lane, Richard N. Ross, Dr. Levi G. Hill. 

1865. Edmund J. Lane, Richard N. Ross, Dr. Levi G. Hill. 



148 THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER. 

1S66. Benjamin Parker Peirce, William R. Tapley, John Q. A. Smith. 

1867. George W. Benn, Dr. John R. Ham, Joseph W. Wingate. 

1868. Joseph W. Wingate, George W. Benn (resigned in August), Dr. John R. 

Ham (resigned in August), Peter Gushing and Silas Moody, chosen 15 
August. 

1869. Dr. Thomas J. W. Prav, Andrew H. Young, Dr. John R. Ham. 

1870. Dr. Thomas J. W. Pray, Dr. James H. Wheeler, John R. Varney. 

187 1. John R. Varney, Dr. James H. Wheeler, Dr. Levi G. Hill. 

1872. Dr. James H. Wheeler, Dr. Levi G. Hill, John R. Varney, Charles A. Faxon, 

William Grime, Peter Gushing, Elvin C. Kinnear. 
1873 Peter Gushing, Solomon H. Foye, William Grime, Charles A. Faxon, Rus- 
sel B. Wiggin, Charles M Murphy, Theodore W. Woodman. 

1874. Solomon H. Foye, William Grime, Charles M. Murphy, Elisha R. Brown, 

Jeremiah Y. Wingate, George W. Benn, Edmund B. Lane. 

1875. George W. Benn, Elisha R. Brown, Jeremiah Y. Wingate, William Eadie, 

Ebcnezer F. Faxon, Edmund B. Lane. 

1876. William Eadie, Alvah Moulton, Jacob M. Willey, John C. Tasker, James H. 

Davis, Elisha R. Brown, Solomon H. Fo)^e. 

1877. John C. Tasker, Thomas E. Gushing, Alvah Moulton, William H. Vickery, 

John Smellie. 

1878. John C. Tasker, Thomas E. Gushing, Alvah Moulton, William H. Vickery, 

John Smellie. 

1879. Augustus B. Burwell, Charles Porter, Elisha R. Brown. 

1880. Charles Porter, Augustus B. Burwell, Dr. John R. Ham. 

1 88 1. Samuel C. Fisher, Benjamin Franklin Nealley, Andrew H. Young. 
1S82. Samuel G. Fisher, Andrew H. Young, Benjamin Franklin Nealley. 

1883. Samuel C. Fisher, Andrew H. Young, Benjamin Franklin Nealley. 

1884. Samuel C. Fisher, Andrew H. Young, Benjamin Franklin Nealley. 




